3rd wave: Covid-19 devours 50 in a day

Approximately 62% deaths were reported in Lahore during the last 24 hours

LAHORE:

The third wave of coronavirus has hit hard as the number of deaths suddenly spiked at 50 on Wednesday, rendering the total number of virus deaths in Punjab shy of 59 to cross the psychological barrier of 5,500.

Despite bans in place and little to no relaxation offered to citizens in the provincial capital, around 62% of the deaths were reported in Lahore alone during the last 24 hours.

Health experts blame the lack of awareness about the deadly consequences of not following safety guidelines given by the government for the drastic increase in the number of cases and subsequent deaths.

On March 3, authorities reported 1,341 new Covid-19 cases in the current month alone creating panic among policymakers and administrative staff.

Sources in the Punjab Health Department stated that the higher-ups are wary of the negligence shown by the staff responsible for ensuring SOPs implementation.

They complained of the poor performance of the local administrations of bigger districts in restricting activities that may speed up contagion spread instead of reducing it.

The department has also initiated deliberations to contain the pandemic before it gains uncontrollable momentum.

“It is clear that there is no regard towards the implementation of SOPs. We need to strategise effective lockdowns to reduce infection and death ratio in Punjab,” said Syed Hammad Raza, the spokesman of the Punjab Health Department.

Seconding his point of view, Chief Executive Mayo Hospital Lahore and Member Corona Advisory Committee Dr. Asad Aslam stressed the need to force the public to undertake safety precautions as the threat is still impending and not over.

“The pandemic can quickly become much more dangerous. Disregard to safety may serve a lethal blow beyond the comprehension of masses,” he underscored.

It is worth noting that the last peak in the number of pandemic deaths was noted on December 15, 2020, when 57 died of Covid-19 in a day. Yet again, at the beginning of the New Year, 43 deaths were recorded across Punjab and on February 1, at least 46 people lost their lives to the virus.

The situation has escalated once more with the number of deaths doubling in a day during March.

Allama Iqbal Medical College Assistant Professor Dr. Shabbir Choudhary has analsysed that the lack of attention to safety guidelines, hence increased deaths, was triggered by the availability of vaccines in the market.

“People are taking coronavirus even more lightly since the vaccination programme was started by the government. They are also taking undue risks by attending mass gatherings despite obvious symptoms of the virus which is showing its results,” he said while pointing to the recent high death toll in Punjab.

According to data available with the Punjab Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department (P&SHD), as many as 63,000 frontline healthcare workers have received coronavirus vaccine. The vaccination ordeal continues throughout the province and has not reached its conclusion.

Furthermore, registration of senior citizens for the second phase of vaccination is also under way.

To put things into perspective, we must understand that over 25% of the total coronavirus deaths were registered within 61 days this year. At least 1,399 citizens succumbed to the contagion in 2021 compared to 4,042 last year.

In the light of these worrisome numbers, the government has urged the masses to adopt SOPs for the protection of their lives and the wellbeing of society at large.

The only good news so far is that as many as 162,658 persons in Punjab have defeated the pandemic since the outbreak.

The government on the other hand continues to test people for the virus. The Punjab Health Department has performed more than 3.3 million diagnostic tests up to the present and has noted that Lahore bears the maximum disease burden with 88,739 people testing positive.

The positivity ratio among healthcare workers was also interpreted at 12% with nearly 23,400 suspected cases.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 4^th, 2021.