Zubair Qureshi
All the vaccination centres including those set up at business centres and shopping malls and mobile vaccination facilities will remain closed for next two days i.e. Wednesday and Thursday, due to Ashura-e-Moharram.
According to the health authorities of Islamabad the vaccination centres will resume service on Friday and onwards.
The federal capital on Monday reported 325 new cases of Covid-19 against 3,535 tests conducted in the last twenty-four hours and according to District Health Officer (DHO) Dr Zaeem Zia with the latest additions, 94,108 confirmed cases of Covid-19 were reported while the death toll reached 834 after three casualties in the last twenty-four hours.
Meanwhile, the counter for conducting rapid polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests for Covid-19 has become functional at Islamabad International Airport..
Passengers with tickets of UAE bound flights may avail the rapid PCR test facility at the airport within one and a half hours, said a press release.
An official of the Ministry of National Health Services about the recent surge in number of cases in the federal capital said people had a long weekend due to the Independence Day and spent two days on roads and markets.
“Earlier, there was rush in markets as people, especially children, were busy buying flags and other goods related to Independence Day such as fireworks.
Now, we are going to have another long weekend on Ashura due to which on one hand people will participate in processions and majalis and on the other some others will organise picnics as they have still kept meat of sacrificial animals in their freezers,” he said.
“I fear that by next month we will be left with no choice but to enforce restrictions and maybe we will go for the closure of schools and markets.
The citizens should strictly adhere to the standard operating procedures (SOPs) and avoid unnecessary gatherings,” he said.
A day earlier, 215 patients were discharged from hospitals in Rawalpindi after recovering in the last 24 hours. It has been observed that there is still no proper implementation of the SOPs in the garrison city.
There are 2,229 active patients currently in the district. As many as 224 patients are in hospitals and 2,005 home isolated.
