ISLAMABAD: The federal capital has become the only city in Pakistan which has partially or fully vaccinated 95pc of its residents against Covid-19.

On the other hand, 36 cases were reported in a single day in the capital and the weekly positivity, which had increased in the first week of the month, has again dropped.

In the district of Rawalpindi, one person died and eight people tested positive while five patients were discharged from hospitals.

District Health Officer (DHO) Islamabad Dr Zaeem Zia while talking to Dawn said that initially there was a target of vaccinating a million residents of the capital as the minimum age for vaccination was 18 years.

Weekly positivity rate in Islamabad declines again

“However, later the age limit was decreased to 12 years so our target was enhanced to 1.6 million. At the moment, 95pc vaccine eligible citizens - 1.52 million - have received at least one dose and 75pc - 1.2 million - have become fully vaccinated,” he said.

The data showed that on Sunday 36 more infections were reported in the city with the positivity rate of 0.6pc. However, the weekly positivity has dropped.

A document available with Dawn showed that in the first week of the current month (Nov 29 to Dec 5) over 29,000 tests were conducted out of which 261 samples were found positive and the weekly positivity remained 0.88pc.

However, during the last week over 34,000 tests were conducted and 230 samples were found positive with the positivity rate of 0.66pc.

Similarly, the number of cases was 43 on Dec 6 but it then started dropping and reached 36 on Sunday. However, a prominent dip was observed on Dec 10 when only 20 cases were reported.

Dr Zia said that the situation seemed to be under control because the residents showed responsibility and got themselves vaccinated.

“We feared that the trend may go up due to the winter season but it is a positive development that the weekly positivity has reduced. Now we are eyeing on the current week’s positivity to know if it happened just for one week or the positivity has permanently started declining,” he said.

“I suggest to the residents to strictly adhere to the standard operating procedures (SOPs) which include wearing masks and maintaining social distance. Those who could not be vaccinated till date should go to the vaccination centres at the earliest for inoculation,” Dr Zia said.

Rawalpindi

One person died of Covid-19 on Sunday and eight people tested positive while five patients were discharged from hospitals during the last 24 hours.

Mohammad Ishtiaq Hussain, 50, a resident of Murree, was brought to Pakistan Institute of Urology on Dec 11 where he died.

The positivity ratio in the district was recorded at 0.55pc. Total 1453 samples were collected out of which eight were found infected.

There are 123 active patients in the district - 21 in hospitals and 102 home isolated.

Two of the patients each arrived from the cantonment areas, Potohar Town, Murree and one each one from the city and Taxila.

There are 21 patients in different hospitals - four in Benazir Bhutto Hospital, eight each in Rawalpindi Institute of Urology and Fauji Foundation Hospital and one patient in Holy Family Hospital.

There is one patient on ventilator, 12 patients are on oxygen and seven are stable.

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2021