Zubair Qureshi
The novel coronavirus situation is worsening in Islamabad and Thursday turned out to be the worst in this regard with the highest number of one-day cases i.e. 576 new infections. This figure has been highest in a period of two months and has alarmed the authorities.
The total number of cases in Islamabad has jumped to 28,555 with these latest figures and six deaths have taken the casualties’ number to 297. According to the District Health Officer Dr Zaeem Zia out of 576 cases, 227 were male and 249 female. The positive rate has also gone up from 5% to 7.1% and the city saw 8,016 tests for coronavirus in one day.
Meanwhile, the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) offices reported an increasing number of employees testing positive with coronavirus and according to Deputy Commissioner of Islamabad Hamza Shafqaat, the offices of the DC and the Chief Commissioner were temporarily closing down. “Various positive cases in DC office. We are temporarily closing down. Getting everyone tested. Facilitation center at G-11/4 will stay opened for all essential services,” said the DC in a tweet.
Meanwhile, Joint Executive Director of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) Dr Minhajus Siraj confirmed on Thursday that 181 employees of the PIMS—doctors, nurses and paramedics—have tested positive. He also informed that most of those tested positive had quarantined themselves at their residence. However, Dr Minhaj said the hospital administration and the health team were providing maximum attention to the patients of Covid-19 who were brought to the hospital for treatment.
The hospital has already suspended its OPD services. However, other hospitals—Children Hospital, Mother and Child Hospital, Cardiac Centre and Burn Care Centre— are functioning as per routine. In a meeting held a day earlier, it was decided to suspend the previous order of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Medical University which said general practitioners (GPs) would perform 24-hour duty instead of 30 hours.
All GPs and medical officers will perform duties assigned to them and in case of non-compliance, pay/stipend will be stopped and disciplinary action initiated against them.
