Zubair Qureshi
The federal capital is showing promising results with regard to the coronavirus situation as only 20 new cases were reported and one death (that too after a gap of five days) during the last twenty-four hours.
Islamabad with such low figures, both of deaths and new infections, cas be said free of coronavirus.
This is the first time that such a low number of virus infections has been reported in the federal capital and its periphery.
However, there are apprehensions the virus might return if health guidelines are not strictly followed and social distances or masks are not maintained during the Eid shopping and the holidays.
On Sunday, Islamabad reported a total of 14,841 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 163 deaths while the number of recoveries stood at 12,253.
This is a great development, said Dr Zafar Mirza and attributed this success to policy of smart lockdown and health guidelines imposed and enforced at various rural and urban areas of Islamabad.
Deputy Commissioner of Islamabad Muhammad Hamza Shafqaat and his team including the District Health Officer Dr Zaeem Zia have also been on the frontline throughout this period since Feb 26 when the first case was reported and took a number of measures including sealing of various sectors and tracing contacts of the positive cases.
According to an official of the ICT, the real challenge now is to keep this momentum and never let the virus return to the urban or rural populations, he further said.
He expressed his fears that with Eid shopping spree gripping the public and purchase of sacrificial animals picking up in the cattle markets, these cattle markets have become the new hotspots of coronavi-
rus.
The capital administration has taken a series of measures to enforce standard operating procedures (SOP) in cattle markets, after the National Command and Operations Centre on Covid-19 warned that the cattle markets could become a hub for the coronavirus, he said.
The administration tested some 70 cattle vendors at the market in Taramri Chowk recently of which 68 have tested negative for Covid-19 and the results of two are awaited.
