121 kids test positive in last 24 hours; two on Oxygen support at PIMS
Zubair Qureshi
Hospitals in Islamabad are reporting an overwhelming number of patients in the age bracket from the newborns to 10-year old causing alarm for the authorities.
The federal capital reported 121 children testing positive for Covid-19 and according to the National Command & Operation Centre (NCOC) so far 5,000 children out of 57,833 cases have tested positive for Covid-19 in the federal capital.
According to the spokesperson of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) Dr Waseem Khwaja currently two kids (one is 8-day and the other is 3-month old) are on Oxygen support in the PIMS Children Hospital.
In the prevailing 3rd wave of Covid-19, a total of 15 kids are admitted at PIMS, further said Dr Waseem Khwaja.
About the 8-day baby, he said the baby had contracted virus from the mother. The patient though tested negative on Wednesday, yet feeling difficulty in breathing and therefore is put on Oxygen support.
According to the National Command & Operation Centre’s (NCOC) statistics, so far 20,756 children under 10 years—12,336 male and 8,420 female—are suffering from coronavirus while 17 have lost battle against the virus.
District Health officer (DHO) of Islamabad Dr Zaeem Zia said the positivity rate in Islamabad was still high more than 12 per cent but the fact children are falling victim to Coronavirus is quite disturbing and we need to keep our kids out of this lurking threat.
The single-day tally of new cases in Islamabad came down a little as 629 persons tested positive while 5 deaths were caused due to Covid-19.
With new cases and deaths, Islamabad’s total number of Covid-19 cases surged to 568 and new infections 57,833 while the number of recoveries reached 47,458 by Wednesday.
According to the District Health Department almost 50 percent of the health workers have been administered shots while the remaining will be inoculated in the coming days.
We have set up two vaccination cetnres of 4,000 persons daily capacity in order to expedite the vaccination process, said a senior official of the District Health Department.
Arrangements have been made in the capital to vaccinate at least 4,000 people a day through the establishment of a mass vaccination centre.
The centre has been set up at the Isolation Hospital and Infections Treatment Centre where vaccination has already started.
District Health Officer Dr Zaeem Zia said that 15 vaccination centres were currently operating in the capital.
Healthcare workers and citizens above the age of 60 years are being administered the vaccine, the DHO said, adding the capital had an elderly population of 132,104.
