RAWALPINDI: The number of confirmed patients has been increasing with each passing day as on Wednesday 133 more tested positive for Covid-19 in the garrison city while a person died and three recovered.

A 50-year-old resident of Khayaban-i-Sir Syed was brought to Benazir Bhutto Hospital on May 12 with symptoms of Covid-19. However, he passed away on the morning of May 13.

Health experts blamed opening of bazaars and markets in Rawalpindi and keeping the corona affected localities open for the increase in the number of patients.

Talking to Dawn, District Health Authority Chief Executive Officer Dr Suhail Ahmed said next week the district would see a peak in the number of patients if the situation remains the same.

The senior health official said people and traders flouted the instructions of the government to maintain social distancing and follow other SOPs.

Health experts blame opening of markets for the fresh spike

The health official said of 240 passengers being kept at Engineering University Taxila, 175 tested negative, and were allowed to go home while test reports of the rest were awaited. He said 56 out of 110 passengers, kept in Fatima Jinnah Women University tested negative and they went home on Wednesday night.

He said at present 1,800 people had been isolated at their homes and district health authority was monitoring their health on a daily basis.

Commissioner retired Capt Mohammad Mehmood told Dawn that the Rawalpindi district administrations had been directed to implement all the standard operating procedures in the markets and bazaars and no negligence would be tolerated in this regard.

He said the Punjab government had asked the business community to strictly abide by SOPs otherwise the government would revisit its decision.

“The number of patients is increasing especially in Rawalpindi district which is an alarming situation,” he said.

He said the government had established another laboratory in the Holy Family Hospital to test Covid-19.

He said that samples would be sent to the National Institute of Health (NIH), Benazir Bhutto Hospital and Holy Family Hospital laboratories for speedy tests.

He said the Punjab government had dispatched more kits and it would help in conducting maximum tests in Rawalpindi district. He said the district government had increased beds in hospitals besides shifting patients to the field hospital.

He said bazaars were being monitored and the daily report was sent to Punjab government.

The commissioner said after a week the government and technical experts would evaluate the situation and take a future course of action.

The number of confirmed patients in Rawalpindi reached 1,424 while 60 died and 295 discharged after recovery.

At present, 1,069 patients are under treatment in hospitals while 474 patients are isolated at their homes.

Apart from this, 435 suspected patients are still admitted to three hospitals of Rawalpindi and their samples had been sent to the National Institute of Health (NIH) and Benazir Bhutto Hospital laboratory for Covid-19 serology.

However, the district health authority officials said last three days 326 people tested positive. They said that samples of all close contacts of confirmed patients were also sent to laboratory for Covid-19 serology.

The local administrations have isolated 2,249 close contacts of the confirmed patients at their houses and 412 in hospitals.

All the members of Tableeghi Jamaat tested negative for Covid-19 while 10 people have been under observation at their homes.

Published in Dawn, May 14th, 2020