RAWALPINDI: Another 25 people have been diagnosed with Covid-19, bringing the total number of patients in Rawalpindi district to 387 on Saturday.

Including the new patients, there are now 234 Covid-19 patients admitted to Rawalpindi hospitals while 58 patients are isolated at home. As many as 80 people have been discharged and 15 have lost their lives due to Covid-19 in the last one month.

A patient was also discharged from the Rawalpindi Institute of Urology on Saturday after recovering from the virus.

Local administrations have quarantined 2,080 people in the four districts; 1,899 people have been isolated in their homes, 114 in hospitals and 67 in quarantine facilities.

There are 111 members of the Tableeghi Jamaat quarantined in the division, of which 65 are in isolation wards, 19 in mosques, 17 in quarantine centres and 10 at home.

Commissioner retired Capt Mohammad Mehmood told Dawn that the government was analysing patient data to prevent the spread of the coronavirus and plan for the future.

The next two weeks will be critical, he said, adding that a lockdown will be implemented in the region to prevent the spread of the virus.

The government has provided healthcare establishments with the utmost facilities for patients, doctors and paramedical staff in the division.

Four high dependency units in the division to treat 36 patients in critical condition, and 5,194 people can be accommodated in 46 quarantine centres in the division. Hospitals have 4,189 N-95 masks to use in the division, he added.

The government has directed hospitals to adopt all standard operating procedures issued to deal with any suspected or confirmed cases of Covid-19, he said.

Mr Mehmood said that the district administrations have been asked to launch aggressive campaigns to maintain the prices of edibles in the market and to improve the food supply chain in Ramazan.

Price magistrates will visit markets to check the quality of food items and whether edibles are available at the prices fixed by the government.

Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2020