Corona positivity in Rawalpindi below 8pc, garrison city’s
hospitals doing great job: Dr Yasmin
Zubair Qureshi
The coronavirus infection rate in major cities of Punjab including Rawalpindi has fallen below 8 per cent and the city’s allied hospitals are doing a great job with regard to administering vaccine, treating the patients of Covid-18.
Punjab Health Minister Yasmin Rashid said this while addressing a media briefing in Rawalpindi on Sunday.
She said that the province had increased the number of tests conducted every day.
In the last 24 hours, 901 people tested positive for the virus in the province, while in Rawalpindi only 68 persons were found infected with the disease, she said while commending the job of the district health teams and the allied hospitals.
“For the first time in the third wave of the virus, the daily number of cases in Punjab has dropped below 1,000,” Rashid remarked.
The infection rate in Rawalpindi, one of the most affected cities, was recorded at 3.5 per cent on Sunday.
“But this does not mean that we have defeated the virus,” she said. “The battle is ongoing and we have to keep figuring out ways to fight it.”
The best way is to wear masks and maintain social distancing. A study states that using a mask gives you 90 per cent protection from the deadly virus.
Rashid urged people to get themselves and the elderly vaccinated. In Punjab, more than 2.8 million people have been vaccinated so far. “It’s important to get people above the age of 50 immunised because they have a high chance of getting infected.”
The minister said that the smart lockdowns would be imposed in areas where the number of cases is high.
In Islamabad, the number of Covid-19 cases reached 80,312 on Sunday after 156 new patients were added to the tally of cases in the last twenty-four hours.
One expiry in the meanwhile, has taken the death toll caused due to Covid-19 to 745.
According to the District Health Officer (DHO) of the federal capital, Dr Zaeem Zia, 3,661 tests were conducted for coronavirus during the last twenty four hours that showed 156 persons were infected with the virus.
The positivity rate in the city for the virus is 4.9 per cent that shows the coronavirus guidelines and the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) proved effective in checking the spread of the disease.
According to the National Command & Operation Centre (NCOC) directions in all those cities and districts where the virus positivity rate is below 5 per cent can allow reopening of schools and colleges.
Therefore, in case the positivity rate in Islamabad doesn’t cross that threshold by June 6, all the educational institutions working under the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) would be allowed to resume educational activities, said a senior official of the directorate.
Meanwhile, the private schools of the federal capital have promoted these students from Class I to Class VII to next grade without conducting their exams.
However, they have asked the students as well as the parents to remain alert as they could be called any time for classes as per the directions of the NCOC.
