ISLAMABAD: There was no let-up in Covid-19 cases in the capital as four more hotspots were detected and put under the Red Zone category made for areas that are to be sealed.

Two people lost their lives to the virus while 443 people got infected on Wednesday as the positivity ratio climbed to 8.4pc.

Around 5,260 tests were conducted in the federal capital.

Officials of the capital administration said a female and two male patients between the ages of 60-99 had passed away on Tuesday. Two of them were residents of Lohi Bher and G-6 while the address of the third deceased was not known.

As many as 443 cases emerged on a single day which was the highest number since Dec 4 when the positivity ratio was recorded at 8.1pc.

District Health Officer Dr Zaeem Zia told Dawn that the District Health Office had changed its strategy and three categories – Red, Orange and Green –were created for areas to monitor virus spread. The areas are put in one of the zones, keeping in view the virus trend and whether standard operating procedures (SOPs) were being followed there.

The Red Zone is for highly-affected areas, he said, adding that the Orange and Green zones are for areas with intermediate and low number of cases. Six areas have been added in the Red Zone: F-11/1, Bhara Kahu, Banigala, I-10/2, G-9/1 and G-10/4, Dr Zia, said, adding that F-11/1 and I-10/2 had already been sealed.

Red Zone areas are hotspots for spread of the virus and will be sealed if people continue to violate SOPs.

He said G-9/4, I-8/4, Shahzad Town, Chak Shahzad, G-11/1, G-10/2, I-10/4, I-10/1, Bahria Town Phase III, F-10/2, and G-6/2 have been added to the Orange Zone. Residents of these areas are under surveillance of the District Health Office, Dr Zia said, adding that 32 areas were added to the Green Zone where number of positive cases per day was low.

He said number of positive cases on a single day in Lohi Bher remained high compared to other areas which was why surveillance of the area was being done so necessary steps could be taken to curb the virus spread.

Furthermore, in Rawalpindi 162 people tested positive for the deadly virus on Wednesday. No casualties were reported and no one was discharged from hospitals after recovery during the last 24 hours.

Number of patients from the garrison city increased as 114 people tested positive in city and cantonment areas including 53 patients from cantonment, 27 from Potohar Town and 34 from Rawal Town areas.

Around 19 patients arrived from Gujar Khan, four patients each from Taxila and Kahuta, five from Kallar Syedan, one from Kotli Sattian, 11 from Islamabad and two patients each from Swat and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).

In Rawalpindi district, there are currently 954 active patients. As many as 245 are in hospitals including 69 patients who arrived from other districts and 709 patients are home isolated while 538 are waiting for the results of their Covid-19 serology.

There are 31 patients admitted in Holy Family Hospital, 27 in Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH), 76 in Rawalpindi Institute of Urology (RIU), 50 patients in Fauji Foundation Hospital (FFH), four patients in Red Crescent Corona Care Centre and one patient in Hearts International Hospital.

Commissioner retired Capt Mohammad Mehmood told Dawn that 12 patients are on ventilators in Rawalpindi, 101 are on oxygen support and 76 are stable.

He said 19,188 people tested positive for Covid-19 since March 2020 including 15,512 in Rawalpindi, 1363 in Attock, 1635 in Jhelum and 678 in Chakwal.

Around 17,217 patients were discharged from hospitals after recovery in the four districts including 13,884 in Rawalpindi, 1276 in Attock, 1486 in Jhelum and 571 in Chakwal, he said, adding 817 people succumbed to the disease in Rawalpindi Division in the last 12 months of the pandemic including 674 in Rawalpindi, 27 in Attock, 45 in Jhelum and 71 in Chakwal.

On the other hand, Punjab government has asked to close all private and public sector educational institutions due to the recent surge in Covid-19 cases but it has given relaxation to private schools that announced annual papers by March 19.

Attock

Four new Covid-19 cases emerged in the district during the last 24 hours, according to the district health authorities.

District Focal Person for Covid-19 Kashif Hussain said out of the newly detected cases, two belong to Attock city and one each to Hazro and Hassanabdal. He said the number of active patients in the district is 60 out of which 57 are home isolated and all are asymptomatic while three others are under treatment.

Four suspected patients are also admitted in hospitals out of whom two are in critical condition, he said, adding the number of suspected patients in the district rose to 26,911 while screening of 30,163 persons was carried out across the district out of which 25,324 were tested negative.

Responding to a question, he said the results of 224 suspected patients are awaited.— Additional reporting by Amjad Iqbal

Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2021