Punjab

‘97% of Rawalpindi’s adult population gets covid jabs’

Health official says more people will be vaccinated next week

APP December 20, 2021

A man receives a dose of the Chinese COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination center in Islamabad, capital of Pakistan on July 13, 2021. (Xinhua/Ahmad Kamal)

RAWALPINDI:

A total of 4,104,128 people had been vaccinated so far against the deadly coronavirus, out of the total population of 4,225,634 in the Rawalpindi district.

District Health Authority (DHA) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr Faiza Kanwal said that over 97% of the vaccination campaign target had been achieved, while the gaps would be covered next week. She said that free-of-cost doses were being administered at the COVID-19 centres. “A free-of-cost Covid-19 booster shot will also be administered to citizens over 50 years of age, who were vaccinated over six months ago,” she added. The CEO said that vaccination was the only way to control the spread of the fatal disease.

Meanwhile, according to the latest data released by the District Health Authority on Sunday, seven more COVID-19 positive cases were reported during the last 24 hours. The total tally of confirmed cases stands at 39,483 in the district, out of which 36,448 are residents of Rawalpindi, and 3035 are from other districts.

READ Vaccination woes : Omicron a threat in waiting for uninoculated

The report added that four of the new cases belonged to the Rawalpindi Cantonment, and one case each had arrived from Gujar Khan, Kallar Syedan and Rawal Town.

"Presently, 20 confirmed patients are admitted to three city facilities. 12 are admitted in the Rawalpindi Institute of Urology and Transplantation (RIUT), four in Fauji Foundation Hospital (FFH), and four in the Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH),” said the report.

Two patients are on ventilators, seven are stable, and 13 are on oxygen, the report informed. Further, it added that the positivity ratio during the past 24 hours was recorded at 0.49% in the district.

The DHA added that 38,144 patients had been discharged after recovery, out of which 35,123 were from Rawalpindi and 3021 outside districts. Further, it stated that 117 patients were quarantined, including 95 at home and 22 in isolation centres.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 20^th, 2021.