RAWALPINDI: The district administration on Saturday sealed 17 education institutions in the district after 53 people were found infected by Covid-19, taking the tally of schools and colleges closed in the district to 79 in the last over one week.

On the other hand, more than 1,900 coronavirus patients were reported in Rawalpindi and Islamabad during the last 24 hours, with the positivity rate recorded over 16pc.

Talking to Dawn, District Health Authority Rawalpindi spokesman Dr Waqar Ahmed said 53 students and staff members had contracted the virus in 17 schools and colleges, prompting the administration to lock them down. The institutions will remain closed till Feb 8.

He said the institutions would reopen after all standard operating procedures were completed, adding that so far 79 education institutions, including Pir Mehr Ali Shah-Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi, had been sealed since Jan 22.

l 79 institutions so far sealed since Jan 22 l Positivity ratio remains over 16pc in both districts

The schools that had been closed on Saturday were Government Girls High School Noor Islam Saidpur Road, Government Girls High School Dhamial, Government Girls High School Sagri, Government High School Sihal, Government Liaquat High School Bangash Colony, Government Islamia High School No. 2 Circular Road, Government English Medium High School Ratta Amral, Government Shimla Islamia Girls High School B Block Satellite Town, Government Girls High School Pindora, Government Boys High School Gharibabad Chaklala, Government Girls High School Bhatta Gujar Khan, Government Girls High School Mandra Gujar Khan and Government Girls High School Jhanda Gujar Khan.

The sealed colleges are Government Associate College for Women Wah Cantonment, Government College of Technology Farooq-i-Azam Road Rawalpindi and Government Degree College for Special Education Rawalpindi.

Meanwhile, 378 people tested positive for Covid-19 in the district on Saturday while 107 patients were discharged from hospitals after recovering during the last 24 hours.

According to the health authority data, the positivity ratio in the district increased to 16.48pc. A total of 1,686 samples were collected out of which 1,408 were declared negative.

There are 3,143 active patients in Rawalpindi district as of Jan 29 out of whom 91 were in hospitals while 3,052 home isolated.

As many as 58 patients arrived from different parts of Rawalpindi and Chaklala cantonments, 46 came from the city areas and 47 from Potohar Town.

On the other hand, 24 patients arrived from Gujar Khan, 49 from Taxila, eight from Kahuta and 19 patients came from Kallar Syedan. As many as 27 patients were brought from other districts out of whom 12 were from Islamabad, four each from Attock and Jhelum, two from Chakwal while one patient each arrived from Azad Kashmir, Lahore, Faisalabad, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gujranwala.

There are 91 patients of Covid-19 admitted to different hospitals of Rawalpindi city, with 11 in Benazir Bhutto Hospital, seven in Holy Family Hospital, 35 in Fauji Foundation Hospital and 35 patients were admitted to Rawalpindi Institute of Urology. One patient each was under treatment in Attock Hospital Rawalpindi and Bilal Hospital.

Six patients were on ventilator in Rawalpindi, 48 on oxygen support and 37 were stable.

Islamabad

A total of 1,555 new cases of Covid-19 surfaced in the capital on Saturday, registering a positivity rate of 19.02pc.

According to officials of the capital administration, during the last 24 hours, 8,175 tests were conducted out which results of 890 males and 665 females came back positive.

They said 413 cases were reported in the age group of 30-39 followed by 368 in 20-29, 241 in 40-49, 200 in 0-9, 116 in 50-59, 101 in 10-19, 72 in 60-69, 28 in 70-79 and 16 patients were over 80.

Likewise, 52 cases were reported from Lohi Bher, 32 from Rawat, 31 from G-10, 28 from F-11, 27 each from G-11 and F-10, 23 each from G-13 and I-10, 22 each from I-8 and G-9, 21 from E-11, 19 from F-6, 17 each from F-8 and Bhara Kahu, 16 each from G-7 and G-8, 15 from I-9, 11 each from G-6, G-5, F-7 and I-12, 10 each from Tarlai and Koral, eight from Chak Shahzad, seven each from Sohan and Kurri, six each from Khanna, B-17 and F-15, five from H-9, four each from H-8, I-11 and Kirpa, three each from Alipur, G-15, G-14, H-13, F-5 Model Town Humak and Saidpur, two each from Rawal Town, D-17, I-14, G-16, Mumtaz City, and one each from Sihala, Bari Imam, F-17, E-9, G-12, Jhangi Syedan, Tarnol, D-18, Phulgran, E-10, E-13, E-16, F-18 and I-16.

The number of active cases has reached 13,196, the officials said, adding that out of the total, 100 are admitted to hospitals while the rest were isolated in their houses.

Taxila

A team of the local administration along with officials of the health department sealed a school in Hazro on Saturday after confirmation of Covid-19 cases.

The district health department directed the local administration to seal Government Girls Primary School in Ghorghasti village of Hazro after 14 cases surfaced. Subsequently a team visited the school, carried out disinfection spray and sealed the institution for 14 days.— Additional reporting by Amjad Iqbal

Published in Dawn, January 30th, 2022