Islamabad: The federal capital witnessed the highest single-day count of casualties, 10, due to COVID-19 since the outbreak of the virus in February this year.
The positivity rate, however, is still 4.5 per cent-5.5 per cent as compared to the national positivity of 8 per cent.
According to the District Health Officer (DHO) of Islamabad, Dr Zaeem Zia the capital had earlier reported eight deaths in a day twice — on November 21 and November 26, seven deaths were also reported on June 16 but the figure had never reached 10.
He however, informed most of the patients who died were in critical condition and on ventilators.
Out of the ten patients, five alone died at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), one reported from the Isolation Hospital and Infectious Treatment Centre (IHITC) and one each from four other hospitals, said the DHO.
Age group
About the age group they belonged to, Dr. Zaeem said five were in the 60-89 age bracket while one in 50-59, one in 40-49 and three were women.
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, 368 people have died of Covid-19 in the capital while the total number of infections stands at 34,579.
Deputy Commissioner of Islamabad Mohammad Hamza Shafqaat while talking to Gulf News said the cases were reducing and on Saturday, only 279 new cases were added to infections.
Pakistan on Sunday reported 72 deaths and 3,369 new cases of COVID-19 in a period of 24 hours taking the total cases number to 438,425 and deaths 8,796. A total of 42,222 tests were conducted in one day while the number of active cases reported in the country was 46,629.
Three senior doctors of Karachi including former Director General (DG) of Health lost their lives in the past 48 hours due to complications caused by COVID-19, raising alarm among healthcare providers.
With these deaths, the total number of doctors dying so far due to COVID-19 in Sindh province has reached 46 of which 26 alone in Karachi.
Among the dead, Dr. Waseemuddin was a paediatrician, Prof Abdul Sattar Korai was the ex- DG Health, Sindh as well as an ENT specialist and Dr. Tahir Amin Chaudhary who was retired from the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre as chief anaesthetist.
According to the data compiled by Pakistan Medical Association (PMA), a total of 142 doctors have died of coronavirus in the country; 61 in Punjab, 46 in Sindh, 26 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, five in Balochistan, one in Gilgit-Baltistan, three in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
Smart lockdown
Meanwhile, the Punjab government has imposed ‘smart lockdown’ in 13 localities of the walled city of Lahore on the reports that these areas had become hotspots for the coronavirus due to fast spread of the infection in the province.
Interestingly, these localities have roads and streets leading to the Minar-i-Pakistan lawns (now the Greater Iqbal Park) where the opposition alliance — the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) — public meeting was scheduled for December 13.
The area police have cordoned off these areas sealing exit and entrance points to these localities.
