'Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore among five cities contributing most to Covid-19 spread'

Highest positivity ratio recorded at 24.85% in Mirpur, Azad Kashmir, observes NCOC

ISLAMABAD:

The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Sunday identified Rawalpindi, Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), Lahore, Peshawar and Karachi among the five major cities contributing about 70 per cent to the spread of the pandemic across the country.

The nation's nerve centre for monitoring the pandemic was briefed that the cities' positivity ratios were rising and they were reporting the most Covid-19 cases per day.

The forum also noted that Karachi, Hyderabad, Peshawar and Rawalpindi were among the top cities with a persistently rising positivity ratio.

The forum also analysed critical stock data related to the positivity ratio, occupancy of oxygenated beds and ventilators across the country and enforcement of smart lockdowns. It also discussed the stock of health facilities and equipment available for Covid across the country.

The NCOC noted that all required medical equipment was available as per the need of the provinces and proper supply to them was being managed.

It further asked all stakeholders to ensure stringent measures to enforce SOPs put in place to control the spread of the virus.

The NCOC further informed that the national positivity ratio had dipped to 7.01%. The highest positivity ratio was observed in Mirpur 24.85% in AJK, followed by Hyderabad 22.181% and Karachi 18.96% in Sindh, the NCOC observed.

Besides Mirpur, AJK also recorded a 17.95% positivity ratio in Muzaffarabad.

However, in Punjab, Lahore has a positivity ration of 4.00%, Rawalpindi 6.80% and Multan 2.55%. As per Sindh, As for K-P, the positivity ratio stood at in Peshawar stood at 11.12%; 8.84% in Quetta, Balochistan; 5.03% in Islamabad, whereas a 6.77% positivity ratio was observed in Gilgit, in the Gilgit-Baltistan region.

The number of active cases of coronavirus has risen to over 47,390 across the country, with 43 more people dying due to the pandemic in the last 24 hours.

Out of the total active cases, Sindh had 9,072; Punjab 17,771; Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) 5,140; Islamabad 6,699; Balochistan 603; Gilgit-Baltistan 324 and Azad Jammu and Kashmir 760.

According to the NCOC, about 40,369, coronavirus tests were conducted across the country in the last 24 hours out of which 2,829 emerged positive, taking the country’s tally of confirmed cases to 395,185.

As per Covid-19 related deaths, the country's death toll stood at 7,985 - of these deaths, Sindh had recorded about 2,911;  Punjab 2,979; K-P 1,359 and Islamabad 309. Moreover, about 166 deaths have been reported in Balochistan, 97 in G-B and 164 in AJK.

As many as 886 patients have recovered from the deadly pandemic, taking the total recoveries to 326,674.

In terms of total number of cases, Sindh is leading with the highest cases, 171,595, followed by 118,511 in Punjab, 46,877 in K-P, 29,782 in Islamabad, 17,101 in Balochistan, 6,682 in AJK and 4,637 in G-B.

Ventilators

About 273 vents in total were occupied across Pakistan, out of the 1,758 allocated for Covid-19.

In Punjab, four patients were on ventilators in Faisalabad, 63 in Lahore, 41 in Multan and 25 in Rawalpindi. Around 61 patients were on ventilators in Sindh; 34 in Peshawar ventilator; 45 in Islamabad

Critical patients

According to teh NCOC, around 2,186 Covid-19 patients were in a critical condition across Pakistan.

Out of these, 620 critical patients were in Punjab; 681 in Sindh; 488 in K-P; 16 in Balochistan; 315 in Islamabad; 50 in AJK and 16 in G-B.

Pakistan has so far conducted about 5,475,508 covid-19 tests. There are about 614 hospitals with Covid-19 facilities and about 2,682 patients admitted across the country.

Oxygenated beds occupancy

As per NCOC's data, Faisalabad has 492 oxygenated beds occupied; Lahore 433; Rawalpindi 52 and Multan 36.

In K-P, 84 oxygenated beds were occupied in Abbottabad; 709 in Peshawar. Moreover, 811 oxygenated beds were occupied in Quetta, Balochistan.

Islamabad has a148 oxygenated bed-occupancy, whereas in AJK, Mirpur has 101 beds occupied and Muzaffarabad 57. About 41 oxygenated beds were occupied in Gilgit.