• Says 70pc of city’s residents partially or completely vaccinated
• 4,000 inoculated in capital on Sunday
• Another 500 contract Covid-19 in Pindi, Islamabad

ISLAMABAD: While 500 people tested positive for Covid-19 in the federal capital and Rawalpindi on Sunday, the district health officer said Islamabad was heading towards herd immunity.

Two persons succumbed to the virus in the garrison city while no deaths were reported in the capital.

According to data, 266 people got infected in the capital, recording a positivity rate of 5.47 per cent.

On the other hand, vaccination centres catered only to people who had not received their second dose on Sunday. The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) has also decided to keep all vaccination centres open on Sept 6 (Defence Day) in order to inoculate a maximum number of citizens and achieve herd immunity.

Talking to Dawn, District Health Officer (DHO) Dr Zaeem Zia said cases were already declining as over 40,000 tests were performed in the last one week and around 70pc of the capital’s residents had partially or completely been inoculated.

“We are moving towards herd immunity. Last week’s positivity rate was 5.36pc compared to 7.04pc a week earlier than last week,” he said.

Replying to a question, Dr Zia said though absolute data was not available, according to experts 90pc deaths were being reported among non-vaccinated people.

“Cases can be reported and will be reported but the number of critical cases will decrease if everyone is vaccinated,” he said.

Dr Zia said 4,000 people requiring second dose got the jabs at the four vaccination centres that remained open in Islamabad.

“Out of the total, 2,500 citizens got inoculated at F-9 Park alone,” he said, adding 21,642 people - requiring both first and second doses - were administered the vaccines the previous day.

He further said 4,864 tests were conducted in the capital, including surveillance and contact tracing samples, on Sunday.

Rawalpindi

Two people died in Rawalpindi while 234 more patients surfaced in the district.

However, 170 patients were discharged from hospitals after recovering in the last 24 hours. The infection rate in Rawalpindi remained at 10.56pc.

Ahmed Nawaz, 65, a resident of Kahuta, was brought to the Rawalpindi Institute of Urology (RIU) on Sept 4 where he died. Masood Akhtar, 48, a resident of Shahpur, passed away at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) where he had been admitted on Sept 4.

In Rawalpindi district, there are 2,550 active patients - 209 in hospitals and 2,341 home isolated.

Officials said 49 patients arrived from the cantonment areas, 93 from city areas and 34 from Potohar Town. Moreover, 34 patients came from Gujar Khan, eight from Kotli Sattian, three from Kahuta, two from Kallar Syedan, seven from Taxila and one patient each from Islamabad, Murree, Azad Kashmir and Chakwal.

As many as 209 patients were admitted to the city hospitals - 28 in Holy Family Hospital, 44 in Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH), 82 in RIU, three in District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital, 39 in Fauji Foundation Hospital (FFH), six in Bilal Hospital, four in Hearts International Hospital, two in Begum Akhtar Sultana Trust Hospital and one in Attock Hospital.

There are eight patients on ventilators, 91 on oxygen and 110 are stable.

Published in Dawn, September 6th, 2021