Another 17 fatalities were reported due to the novel coronavirus in Rawalpindi while 298 new cases were reported in the district in a span of 24 hours, according to a report issued by the District Health Authority on Wednesday.
Seven patients succumbed to the virus at Holy Family Hospital (HFH), four at Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH) and six at Rawalpindi Institute of Urology and Kidney Transplant (RIUKT). Some 282 patients are receiving treatment in these hospitals and among them, 231 are on oxygen and 11 were shifted to ventilators.
The increase in patients requiring oxygen therapy is putting pressure on public hospitals in Rawalpindi, an official stated. They added that the total number of cases has reached 22,583 with 20,831 belonging to Rawalpindi and 1,752 from other districts.
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Moreover, given an increase in the positivity rate, the Rawalpindi administration has started vaccination of people aged 50 and above. So far, about 65,133 people have been vaccinated in the district while the practice of administering single doses of the vaccine has also been started for people aged over 80 years.
Rawalpindi Commissioner Gulzar Hussain Shah, in a meeting held to review the measures taken against the spread of the virus, said that 2,174 people were vaccinated in 24 hours while 27,646 people have contracted Covid in the Rawalpindi division. Of these, 23,466 have been discharged while 1,002 deaths have occurred so far and 3,178 are still under treatment.
Meanwhile, Hazara Commissioner Riaz Khan Mehsud has urged the public to adopt corona preventive measures and said that there is a possibility of the infection rate increasing if standard operating procedures (SOPs) are not followed properly. He was talking to traders’ delegations at the Commissioner House in Abbottabad.
Mehsud said that people should support and help the government to contain the spread of the virus. He maintained that the infection rate has risen to almost ten per cent from two per cent in the last three weeks. He added that suggestions made by traders regarding lockdown would be forwarded to the authorities concerned.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 22nd, 2021.
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