Covid-19 cases dip in last five straight days

Govt launches helpline for healthcare workers dealing with virus patients

ISLAMABAD: The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Friday observed that there had been a decline in coronavirus cases being reported detected in the country for the last five consecutive days after a steady rise for three weeks.

According to a statement issued by the NCOC, 103 more ventilators had been added to the national count, taking the total number to 1,503.

To meet the additional requirements of hospitals, the procurement of more ventilators was under way on a fast track basis and would be completed between the mid and the end of July. Over 1,500 ventilators will be added to the existing number.

Efforts are also under way for the provision of 2,150 additional oxygen beds across the country to ease the burden on hospitals in the county’s major cities.

Punjab and Sindh will each be provided with 500 more oxygen beds, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa 400, Islamabad Capital Territory 450, Balochistan 200, Azad Jammu and Kashmir 60 and Gilgit-Baltistan 40.

The country’s coronavirus testing capacity has went up by 65 times and it will be increased to over 100,000 tests per day by the mid of July.

The NCOC’s coronavirus mortality analysis shows that the case fatality rate (CFR) in Pakistan was 1.93% against 5.37% worldwide.

Gender bifurcation shows that the 73% of people who died of Covid-19 were male with median age of 60 years. Around 74% were over the age of 50.



However, 73% had chronic comorbidities -- meaning they were already suffering from other diseases before contracting the virus.

The NCOC added that 91% of the deceased remained hospitalised with an average stay of five 5 days.

A total of 28,824 tests were conducted during the last 24 hours and 61,383 people have recovered from the disease across the country so far. Currently there is no patient on a ventilator in AJK, Balochistan and GB.

Presently, around 546 ventilators are occupied across the country.

The number of active Covid-19 cases in the country stand at 100,450 with 4,944 detected on June 18.

Overall, 165,062 cases have been confirmed so far – 62,269 in Sindh, 61,678 in Punjab, 20,182 in K-P, 8,998 in Balochistan, 9,941 in ICT, 1,225 in G-B and 769 in AJK.

So far, 3,229 deaths have occurred due to COVID-19 in the country -- 136 on June 18 – 1,265 in Punjab, 964 in Sindh, 773 in K-P, 95 in ICT, 99 in Balochistan, 18 in G-B and 15 in AJK.

Addressing a news conference after the NCOC meeting, Special Assistant to the PM on Health Dr Zafar Mirza said the government had a launched a helpline for healthcare workers dealing with coronavirus patients to address their problems.

Healthcare workers can use the complaint management system by calling on 1166 or sending a WhatsApp message on 03001111166.

Dr Mirza said after a complaint was received, the staff would determine which province it came from and its category. It will then be sent to the government's focal point in that province.

The staff will also call back the healthcare work and inform them about the status of their complaint and how it had been addressed.

With input from APP