Zubair Qureshi
Residents of Islamabad and visitors to the iconic F-9 Park (Fatima Jinnah Park) have expressed their concerns over holding of the tourism festival at the park premises saying it might lead to spread of Covid-19.
This causes not only environmental pollution but risk of virus spread as thousands of visitors, families, youths and stall holders in the festival are exposed to the virus and there are no proper measures being observed to prevent the virus, said Zia Habib a regular visitor to the park.
Ms Quratul Ain also expressed her dismay over the influx of people visiting the festival venue and said it was not good for the environment nor health of the people.
These hundreds of people will leave behind rubbish of all kinds and it will take the park staff days to remove them, she said.
The festival is featuring a number of activities for the kids as well as the grown up people.
There is a horse show, vintage car exhibition, motorbike racing and above all music concerts leaving little room for the people to keep social distance and save themselves from the virus.
Meanwhile, the federal capital on Saturday reported an all-time high 6 percent positivity rate of Covid-19 in a period of two months raising alarm among the health authorities.
According to the District Health Officer (DHO) of Islamabad, Dr Zaeem Zia the federal capital on Saturday reported 251 new cases of coronavirus fearing it might plunge the city into the third wave as two deaths were also reported during the last one day.
With the latest figures, the total number of cases in the federal capital have surged to 45,329 and recoveries 42,726.
The toll in the federal capital stood 506 on Saturday with two casualties in the last twenty-four hours.
The virus is not over and we should not take it easy, said Dr Zia urging the people to continue to follow Standard Operating Procedures like wear facemasks, sanitize/wash their hands regularly and observe social distance.
A day earlier, the district administration sealed two educational institutions after detection of 10 Covid-19 cases while three people died in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi where 200 infections were reported.
Dr Zaeem Zia said seven cases were traced at F-7/3 Islamabad Model College for Boys (IMCB) and three at the IMCB, I-10/1.
The colleges were sealed till further order for disinfection, he said.
Teams from the district health office are tracing the contacts of the positive cases, he said.
