Covid costs Punjab 100 lives in six days

Over 10k new patients confirmed in July amid Eid activities

LAHORE:

Coronavirus claimed 279 lives in Punjab during the past month, while 10,049 new patients of the pandemic were confirmed as it resurged after a brief period of relief.

Official data shows that the situation became alarming in the last week of the month with 100 deaths caused by the pandemic and 3,529 new patients confirmed in six days.

The most alarming development for the health department was confirmation of Delta variant patients in the province. The Punjab health department has started imposing smart lockdown in various worst hit parts of the province besides intensifying its focus on speedy vaccination of the population in view of the prevailing situation.

However, despite the government measures, the situation regarding coronavirus is becoming worst day by day across the province, especially in the most populous districts.

According to the data shared by the provincial health department, at least 279 people died of novel coronavirus in Punjab during July, while 10,049 new patients brought to the government and private hospitals in the province tested positive for the disease.

Although the situation appeared to be under control in the beginning of the month, a resurge of Covid-19 spread was witnessed by mid-July as the number of fatalities and patients increased.

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“Although there were several factors behind the increasing number of patients and deaths, one of them was lack of implementation of the precautionary standard operating procedures (SOPs) during the Eid days. We witnessed a bad situation in this regard in the cattle markets and during the shopping season ahead of the Eid,” a health department official told The Express Tribune.

“Similarly during the Eid congregations in mosques the people did not bother to follow the safety guidelines, while the government also failed to effectively enforce the SOPs. As a result, we are now facing another peak of coronavirus spread,” the official added.

He said the gravity of the situation had been realised after the increase in the death toll and infection rate and smart lockdown had been imposed.

However, now the schools are reopening and in the coming days there will also be Muharram gatherings, he said, warning that failure to seriously implement the health safety measures could result in a worsening of the situation to the level experienced in June and July last year.

The official also called for continued vigilance against the surfacing of the Delta variant of the virus in the province and monitoring of the situation on the ground.

On the other hand, Punjab Primary and Secondary Healthcare Secretary Sara Aslam claimed that the department had set a record of vaccination.

“In the last 24 hours we administered coronavirus vaccine to 549,675 people across Punjab that is a record for the province. In last five days, we have vaccinated more than 500,000 people daily,” the official said.

“In all, we have vaccinated 16,501,984 people as vaccination is the best solution for the safety of the citizens in the prevailing situation,” she said.

The provincial secretary appealed to the people to get themselves vaccinated against coronavirus at the earliest.

The official data shows that the current ratio of coronavirus positive diagnostic tests in Punjab is 3.8 per cent, including Lahore’s rate of 5.1%, Rawalpindi 8.7%, Faisalabad 4.4% and Multan 3.2%.

The figures indicate that the big cities are at a higher risk of coronavirus spread.

“At least 18 deaths caused by the virus were reported in Punjab during the past 24 hours, raising the total death toll in the province so far to 11,057. Meanwhile, 709 fresh confirmed coronavirus cases reported in the province raised the total number to 356,920, of whom 332,830 patients have recovered. The health department has conducted 6,174,842 tests for the disease so far,” a spokesman for the department said.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 3^rd, 2021.