Islamabad: Professor Dr. Moizud Din Khan ofCOMSATS University in Islamabad has passed away due to coronavirus. He is the latest casualty of the second wave of COVID-19 that has caught the country “with a vengeance”.
Khan was the brother of a sitting judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) and according to close friends and colleagues, the professor had contracted the virus two weeks ago and was admitted to a private hospital after he felt difficulty in breathing.
The university’s registrar office is already closed due to coronavirus and the health authorities are monitoring the situation closely, said a university official.
Islamabad is among the worst-hit cities of coronavirus and on Friday, 441 new cases were reported in the federal capital.
This has turned out to be the third straight single-day highest number of coronavirus cases reported in one day in the capital. With this latest addition of coronavirus cases, the city’s tally of coronavirus cases has jumped to 25,719 which is described an alarming figure.
According to the District Health Officer (DHO) Dr. Zaeem Zia, the city’s positivity rate is 6.6 per cent, almost double to what was reported a few weeks back.
Meanwhile, Pakistan reported 2,738 new cases of coronavirus in one day making it an overall 368,665 infections countrywide while 36 deaths in the same period took the death toll to 7,561.
130 schools, colleges closed
Meanwhile, the DHO ordered closure of seven more institutions on Friday over emergence of new cases there. There are more than 130 schools, colleges and universities affected by coronavirus cases in the federal capital and the health authorities have sealed them either partially or completely.
COMSATS University office is already closed while a number of departments of the National University of Modern Languages (NUML), the International Islamic University (IIU), Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) and hostels are under close vigilance of the health authorities.
Meanwhile, the opposition parties alliance, Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) has dismissed the National Command & Operation Centre (NCOC) ban on big rallies and gatherings in the wake of spike in coronavirus cases in the country.
The alliance leaders have refused to meet a ministerial committee formed by the KP government in an attempt to convince the PDM leaders to put off their Nov 22 public meeting of Peshawar.
The PDM has announced a public rally in the provincial capital on Sunday, where the PDM chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and other opposition leaders are likely to deliver speeches.
Peshawar admin refuses to allow rally
Peshawar’s deputy commissioner (DC) on Friday refused to grant permission for a public meeting planned by the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), citing the rising spread of the novel coronavirus in the district.
The opposition alliance had sought permission to hold a public meeting on Peshawar’s Dalazak Road, Ring Road Chowk earlier this month.
A letter issued by the DC’s office on Friday noted that the coronavirus positivity rate in Peshawar district had exceeded 13 per cent, adding that a public gathering “is likely to further increase the spread of life-threatening virus.”
