Magistrate shifting passengers from airport to quarantine centres test positive
Zubair Qureshi
An officer of the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) went into quarantine on Saturday after he tested positive for Covid-19.
Naib Tehsildar/Magistrate Secretariat Abdul Hadi was performing his duties for the last two months with the international passengers and was responsible for their shifting after arrival at the airport to the quarantine centres.
He was stationed at the Chatta Bakhtawar Quarantine Centre where he reported a day earlier symptoms of coronavirus. Later health authorities conducted test and pronounced him positive. According to Deputy Commissioner of Islamabad Mohammad Hamza Shafqaat the officer has quarantined himself.
I request to all the residents of Islamabad to be very careful and cautious in their daily life and refrain from going out unnecessarily, he said.
Islamabad on Saturday reported an increase of 377 cases of confirmed coronavirus taking the total number to 4,377 while five deaths in the last 24 hours took the toll to 46.
The city has become the third-highest number of coronavirus induced deaths per million population in the country and according to a recent report, as of June 3—reported 2,610 cases per million population are being reported in Islamabad.
Although seemingly an insignificant number, the fact that a majority of the county’s overall population, yet the number of those getting infected is swift and the hospitals of the federal capital re running short of space to accommodate new patients.
Islamabad also ranks third among the top-seven cities in terms of Covid-19 deaths per million population.
The city reported 26 deaths/ million as of June 3, preceded only by Malakand with 31 deaths/million and Peshawar topping the list with 50 deaths/million. Karachi ranks 4th with 25 deaths/million, followed by Rawalpindi, Lahore, and Swat, with 23, 19, and 19 deaths per million, respectively.
According to the DHO Islamabad Dr Zaeem Zia, in the district’s urban as well as rural union councils numbers are growing so is the panic among the citizens. However, our teams are there to counter the challenge. “We are on our toes to fight Covid-19. Today, we 377 cases were reported from Islamabad’s vicinity and the reasons are multiple,” he said in a tweet.
Meanwhile, complaining to Pakistan Observer on Saturday a doctor at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) said people are panicking unnecessarily and rushing to hospitals for minor or no symptoms at all.
Even those with normal body temperature and a little sour throat are coming to the PIMS for examination and in this way the deserving patients are denied timely treatment.
