ISLAMABAD: The pandemic on Wednesday claimed another nine lives in the twin cities as the capital reported five and Rawalpindi four deaths.

However, positive cases in both the cities kept declining as Islamabad saw 204 cases and the Rawalpindi district 112.

Officials of the capital administration said out of the total 909 beds allocated for Covd patients in 16 hospitals in capital, 452 beds have been occupied and the occupancy rate is 49.72pc.

Similarly, out of total 128 ventilators allocated for the patients in 13 hospitals 58 are occupied, hence the occupancy rate is 45.31pc.

Pindi, Islamabad see decline in positive cases

They said though there was no let-up in casualties as five more lost battle against Covid-19, positive cases kept declining as 204 new cases were reported on Wednesday.

The death toll of Covid19 in capital reached to 699 with the five more deaths, the officials said, adding that all were male and residents of E-11, Khanna, SIhala and E-8, while address of one deceased was not known.

Three deaths were reported in the age group of 70-79 and two in 60-69, they added.

During the last 24 hours, 4,035 tests were conducted in the capital which detected virus in 111 men and 93 women they said, adding that the positivity rate was 5.05pc.

They said 43 cases were reported in the age group of 20-29, followed by 37 in 40-49, 31 in 30-39, 29 in 50-59, 21 in 0-9, 17 in 10-19, 13 in 60-69, 11 in 70-79 and two in 80 and above.

Rawalpindi

In Rawalpindi, Four people died of Covid-19 in the district on Wednesday while 112 patients tested positive for the virus while 165 people discharged from the hospital.

Abdul Rehman, 76, resident of Sadiqabad, died at Rawalpindi Institute of Urology (RIU) on Wednesday where he was admitted to on May 3.

Mohammad Basheer, 73, resident of city areas, died on Wednesday at Holy Family Hospital where he was brought on May 4.

Talat Khursheed, 50, resident of Khyaban-i-Sir Syed, arrived at Isolation Hospital and Infectious Treatment Centre on May 4 where he died on Wednesday.

Abida Parveen, 61, resident of Sadiqabad, arrived at Rawalpindi Institute of Urology (RIU) on May 4 she succumbed to the virus on Wednesday.

In Rawalpindi District, there are 1,438 active patients. Total 160 patients are in the hospitals including 51 from other districts. Total 1,278 patients were isolated at their homes.

However, total 683 patients are waiting for their results of coronavirus serology.

The garrison city reported 99 new cases --34 patients are from cantonment areas, 33 from Potohar Town and 32 from Rawal Town.

Three patients arrived from Gujar Khan, one patient from Kallar Syedan, one from Kahuta, four from Kotli Sattian and one from Murree. One patient each arrived from Islamabad, Chakwal and Lahore.

The new patients of Covid-19 were admitted to different hospitals of Rawalpindi city including 28 in Holy Family Hospital, 29 in Benazir Bhutto Hospital, two in District Headquarters Hospital, 75 in Rawalpindi Institute of Urology, 20 in Fauji Foundation Hospital, eight in Hearts International Hospital and one in Begum Akhter Rukhsana hospital.

There were eight patients are on ventilators in Rawalpindi, 106 are on Oxygen and 47 are stable.

Deputy Commissioner retired Capt Anwarul Haq told Dawn that the number of the critical patients in Rawalpindi was decreasing as in the past month more than 300 patients were in critical condition now they had been reduced to 60 which is good sign.

He said that the district administration was on their toes to create awareness of safety measures and vaccination.

He said that apart from this campaign, the district administrations teams were imposing fines on the violators.

Attock

The number of confirmed Covid-19 positive patients in Attock keeps escalating as 11 more tested positive on Wednesday raising the number of positive patients to 2,028 while four persons fell victim to the virus in the district, it was officially said.

According to health officials, Adeel Shah, Shoukat and Hanif, residents of Attock city while Ghulam Sabir, a native of Hazro died of the virus in the district during the past 24 hours.

District focal person for Covid-19 Kashif Hussain said all new patients belonged to Attock city.

He said the number of active patients in the district was 169 and in which 165 were isolated at home while four others were hospitalized. — Additional reporting by Amjad Iqbal

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2021