Coronavirus threat persists

The threat of Covid-19 in Punjab remains severe as 155 people have lost their lives to the disease during the past 12 days. Besides the death toll, the rate of suspected patients testing positive for the virus also continues to be alarming.

As many 15,705 people have tested coronavirus positive in the province during the ongoing month. At least 24 people died in Punjab due to coronavirus on February 11, which was the highest death toll on a day during the fifth wave of its spread in the province.

The health department record shows that most of the deaths recorded during the ongoing wave of the pandemic are among patients aged above 50 years. A positive trend is that the number of new patients has decreased as compared to last month. However, the Punjab health department is advising the people to adopt precautionary measures.

Amid the persisting high fatality rate, the primary and secondary healthcare departments recorded 24 deaths during 24 hours in various cities of the province. The highest number of deaths after Lahore took place in Rawalpindi.

“The highest death toll of recent days was seen in Punjab on Friday as 10 peoples died of coronavirus in Rawalpindi during 24 hours, seven deaths caused by the virus were confirmed in Lahore, three in Faislabad, two in Rahim Yar Khan and one in Sheikhupura,” a senior official of the department told The Express Tribune.

Covid-19 has claimed 13,332 lives in the province since its outbreak, with Lahore and Rawalpindi recording the highest death toll. “In the current wave of coronavirus, most deaths have been reported among people above 50 years old and senior citizens should avoid going to gatherings,” the official added.

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The provincial health department’s spokesperson, Sayed Hamad Raza, said, “It is right that the death rate has increased but we have kept the alarming situation from spiralling out of control due to efforts of the department.”

He said that a few days ago there was around 19 per cent positive diagnostic test ratio in Lahore, but as a result of the efforts of Punjab government, especially the health department, it had now dropped to 7%. The spokesperson said the provincial government had done its best to overcome the fifth wave of coronavirus. “However, now it is up to the people to consider the situation and follow the standard operating procedures (SOPs),” said Hamad Raza.

Punjab Primary and Secondary Healthcare Secretary Imran Sikandar Baloch said the department was focusing on vaccination. “We started the third phase of the Reach Every Door vaccination campaign in Punjab at the beginning of this month.” He said that around 14 million vaccinations had been conducted in the first phase of the campaign.

“We have enough vaccine in Punjab and all people aged over 12 years should get themselves vaccinated,” he added. The provincial secretary said 760 new patients of coronavirus had been confirmed in the province during last 24 hours, while there were 12,829 active cases in the hospitals. Overall, 3.6% positive test rate was recorded in Punjab and it is a positive development that the ratio is decreasing,” said the official. Punjab health department appears helpless to handle the ongoing coronavirus wave as the number of patients in the province continued to rise on Saturday to the highest level in past six months.

Besides Lahore, the spread of coronavirus also speedily increased in other big districts of Punjab, including Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Multan and Gujranwala. The provincial health department advised the people to strictly follow the standard operating procedures (SOPs) set by the government to avert the spread of the pandemic.

The data for the past day showed that the number of coronavirus patients reporting in government and private hospitals in Lahore and Rawalpindi was particularly high. The provincial secretary requested the parents to get vaccinated their children above 12 years of age. He said there was no report of shortage of the vaccine in any district of the province.