Rawalpindi administration seals three neighbourhoods amid COVID-19 outbreak fears

A large contingent of police, Rangers and Pakistan Army assists local administration in maintaining lockdown

RAWALPINDI: The fear that the federal capital will develop clusters of coronavirus (Covid-19) patients is likely to become true as the tally of confirmed cases moved up to 39 on Saturday.

The number of confirmed cases in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi are rising every passing day and three localities of the garrison city located in the jurisdiction of Naseerabad police station were completely sealed after five coronavirus cases surfaced from there over the past three days.

Meanwhile, 198 people suspected to have contracted the virus were brought to the healthcare facilities of Islamabad over the past 24 hours.

As per the daily report of the National Institute of Health (NIH), eight COVID-19 patients were under treatment in different hospitals in the capital territory while so far, only two have been discharged after full recovery.

Some 1,056 suspected patients have been tested for the virus, the report stated and added that some 910 suspected patients were still under observation in different quarantine centres established in Islamabad.

Areas sealed

Further, the locals of sealed localites including Dhok Paracha, Dhok Kahmirian and Magistrate Colony, were forced to stay at their homes as the police, and Rangers personnel cordoned-off the areas on Saturday.

The administration, although, had only allowed grocery, dairy, fruit and vegetable shops in the related areas to remain open. However, they ran out of stock in a short span after the residents learnt that their areas would be sealed off shortly. In this regard, Saddar SP Mazhar Rai explained that the action was taken to prevent the spread of the virus.

Pervaiz Paracha and other locals said that their daily life had been badly affected as the vicinities were sealed. He complained that the area shops had ran out of commodities as goods’ trucks were prohibited to enter these areas. The locals also decried how they would take the sick to the hospital if they weren’t allowed to step out. They suggested the government to mark and seal only the affected houses not the entire area.

Lockdown in Islamabad

The Islamabad Capital Territory Administration (ICTA) has geared up to enforce the government orders in the federal capital on the fifth day of the curfew-like lockdown as the thoroughfares looked bereft of traffic and main commercial markets remained shut.

Only area shops in different sectors dealing in essential items remained open while the administration strictly ensured that the people otherwise remained confined to their homes.

As the coronavirus patients in the federal capital experienced a rapid surge, the police and paramilitary force strictly dealt with people roaming outside without any reason.

The city wore a desolated look during the day and most of the people preferred to stay indoors despite the weekend amid the outbreak.

Even those commuting to work or going out purposefully were asked to wear face and gloves along with maintaining a safe distance between them when they line up or stand at a place.

The security officials urged the people to cooperate with them a little bit more as some of them were still taking the lockdown as an adventure and going unnecessarily out to see how deserted streets look like.

The Islamabad locals said that fight against the contagion was like a war that could not be won by the government alone. While talking to The Express Tribune, many of them said that the nation could get rid of the virus only by implementing the government’s orders.

They extended their support to the government and law enforcement agencies (LEAs) and expressed that the virus could be eliminated from the country through effective strategy enforced by the government.

Amir Khan offers academy for quarantine

The Pakistani-origin UK boxer Amir Khan has offered his academy to the government for establishing a quarantine centre there. He expressed his desire to cooperate with the government in fighting the pandemic disease and said that there was enough space to install at least 1,000 beds. 

Published in The Express Tribune, March 29^th, 2020.