ZUBAIR QURESHI
The garrison city’s district administration and police have sealed Farooqia Mohallah in Ratta Amral after a patient tested positive there. Meanwhile, 18 people have been tested positive for Covid-19 in Rawalpindi district bringing the total number of cases to 247. According to the health officials a Covid-19 patient was brought to the Rawalpindi Institute of Urology (RIU) from Dhoke Thathal on Chakri Road. We have quarantined 13 of the patient’s contacts, all of them relatives, at home, they further told. Meanwhile, a bank official in Saddar has also tested positive and has been admitted to the hospital for treatment. The bank management has disinfected the bank. The total number of recovered patients in Rawalpindi city is reported to be 38 while a total of 68 have recovered in the division, including one person in Attock, one in Chakwal and 23 in Jhelum. There are currently 205 confirmed patients admitted to Rawalpindi hospitals, six people have died and 38 have been discharged. Besides around 272 people are still in the hospitals of the four districts – 205 in Rawalpindi, 48 in Jhelum, 12 in Attock and seven in Chakwal. Another 207 people are still waiting for their test results, which the National Institute of Health will send in a day or two. A total of 589 suspected patients have visited hospitals, of which 382 were discharged after they tested negative. In addition, 1,744 people have been quarantined, including 1,512 people isolated in their homes, 196 in quarantine facilities and 37 in hospitals. At least 460 members of the Tableeghi Jamaat have been quarantined in Rawalpindi division – 198 in Jhelum, 178 in Rawalpindi district, 73 in Attock and 11 in Chakwal. Another 12 preachers have been isolated at home, 145 in mosques and 138 in quarantine centres in the division. Although there has not been a quick rise in the number of patients, the government has asked the administrations of all four districts to increase the number of beds in hospitals as a precaution for an emergency situation. The official said that the number of confirmed cases in Rawalpindi division had increased to 344, but 61 people have recovered which is a positive sign. “We developed four high dependency units in the four districts, Rawalpindi, Attock, Jhelum and Chakwal, to accommodate more than 40 people who require ventilators. We can accommodate 5,194 people in quarantines established at 46 sites,” he said.
