ISLAMABAD: As vaccination of the elderly goes on, arrangements have been made in the capital to vaccinate at least 4,000 people a day through the establishment of a mass vaccination centre.

The centre has been set up at the Isolation Hospital and Infections Treatment Centre where vaccination will begin next week.

Officials of the capital administration said 548 people were diagnosed with the virus in Islamabad on Thursday along with and one death. The positivity rate was 10.2pc. A male patient, aged over 90 years, resident of Bhara Kahu passed away whereas no deaths were reported from Pindi.

District Health Officer Dr Zaeem Zia told Dawn that 15 vaccination centres were currently operating in the capital. Healthcare workers and citizens above the age of 60 years are being administered the vaccine, the DHO said, adding the capital had an elderly population of 132,104.

Around 80,063 people are in the age group of 60-69; 36,028 in 70-79 and 16,013 in the 80 and above age group; of them 4,337 people in the age group of 60-69, 1849 in the age group of 70-79 and 654 in the 80 and above group already contracted the virus.

Islamabad reports 548, Rawalpindi 321 new cases of Covid-19

So far, 52,483 health workers and elderly people got themselves registered for vaccination and the schedule was issued to 42,906 of them he said, adding 32,492 healthcare workers and elders had been vaccinated in the capital.

Vaccination of elderly people and healthcare workers is likely to speed up after the vaccination centres are operational, Dr Zia said, adding: “We are hopeful that vaccination of these two groups will be completed in a month.”

So far, 39,999 vaccines have been issued to 15 centres and over 7,000 vaccinations are available in the centres, he added.

Meanwhile, 110 new cases were reported in the age group of 30-39, followed by 107 in 40-49, 106 in 20-29, 77 in 50-59, 48 in 0-9, 47 in 60-69, 33 in 10-19, 22 in 70-79 and one in 80 and above. The age group of three cases is not known,

Likewise, 65 cases were reported from Loi Bher, 42 from Rawat, 27 from G-6, 25 from I-8, 23 from Khanna, 22 from Tarlai, 21 from Bhara Kahu, 20 from I-10, 19 from F-11, 18 each from G-9, G-13, 17 from G-7, 16 from Sohan, 15 each from G-11, G-8, G-10, 14 from F-8, 12 from E-11, 11 from I-9, nine each from F-6, F-7, eight from Sihala, seven from Jhangi Syedan, six each from Alipur, Kurri, D-12, four each from Chirrah, Kirpa, three each from G-15, G-14, F-5, H-13, H-12, E-17, two each from Bari Imam, E-7, D-17, Tarnol, and H-11, they said.

In Rawalpindi, 321 people were diagnosed with Covid-19 and 105 were discharged from hospitals after recovery during the last 24 hours.

Around 100 of the newly-detected patients were from cantonment, 82 arrived from Potohar Town and 71 from Rawal Town. As many as 23 patients arrived from Gujar Khan, 29 from Taxila, three from Murree, four from Kahuta and Kallar Syedan whereas three patients arrived from Islamabad and one from Sargodha.

There are currently 1,882 active patients in the district; around 196 are in hospitals including 87 who arrived from other districts and 1,599 patients are home isolated. Around 577 suspected patients are waiting for the results of their Covid-19 serology.

Around 26 patients are admitted in Holy Family Hospital, 32 in Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH), 102 in Rawalpindi Institute of Urology (RIU), 31 in Fauji Foundation Hospital (FFH), two in Hearts International Hospital and three in Begum Akhter Rukhsana Hospital. According to the Punjab Covid-19 Control centre, there are 20 patients on ventilators in Rawalpindi, 75 are on oxygen support and 101 are stable.

On the other hand, Deputy Commissioner retired Capt Anwarul Haq told Dawn that the district administration was working on vaccinating senior citizens and front-line health workers.

He said 18,448 people have been vaccinated including 10,592 health care workers and 7,856 members of the general public. Apart from this, he said the district administration is striving hard to create awareness among people to take safety measures so further spread of the virus could be avoided.

Attock

District health authorities on Thursday sealed three more educational institutions in various parts of the district after staff members tested positive for Covid-19.

District Health Authority Chief Executive Dr Jawad Ellahi said during sampling, some of the teaching staff of Government Girls High School Jhammat, Government Boys Elementary School Sheenbagh and Government Boys Primary School Domel tested Covid-19 positive.

He said health authorities received reports about infection of some staff members, following which disinfection was carried out under the supervision of health officials. He said samples of fellow staff members and students were also collected and sent for testing. He said the total number of positive patients reported in the district since the beginning of the pandemic on Thursday stood at 1,468.

He said there are 133 active patients in the district; two are under treatment while 130 others are under home isolation.

As many as five suspected patients are also admitted in District Headquarters hospital out of whom four are critical.

Responding to a question, he said the number of suspected cases in the district was 27,576 while screening of 30,828 people has been carried out so far.

Results of 350 suspected patients of the area are still awaited while 25,891are tested negative so far across the district during the past year. — Additional reporting by Amjad Iqbal

Published in Dawn, March 26th, 2021