Number of Covid-19 positive cases declining in Islamabad: DC.

Byline: Aamir Yasin and Ikram Junaidi

ISLAMABAD/RAWALPINDI -- The daily number of cases has significantly declined in the capital as only 189 Covid-19 patients reported to hospitals on Sunday.

This was a significant decrease from the 771 cases reported on June 14.

For the last few days, there has been no patient waiting for beds at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) where around 40 beds were vacant on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the commercial area of G-9 (Karachi Company) will open today (Monday) but strict monitoring will be carried out to ensure traders followed the standard operating procedures (SOPs).

Lockdown in I-10, I-8, G-10, G-7, G-6 and Ghouri Town will be lifted after completion of 14 days and some other areas from where cases were being reported will be sealed. However, officials feared another surge on Eidul Azha and during Muharram.

Deputy Commissioner (DC) Islamabad Hamza Shafqaat told Dawn that though the number of cases had reduced, there was no decrease in the number of tests.

'We have been conducting around 3,000 tests per day which can be compared with any country across the globe in terms of per million population. Islamabad has a population of around two million. But in Rawalpindi, only 100 tests per day were being carried out despite the fact that the city has a population of five million,' he said.

'In Islamabad, cases had reduced to 189 because of the smart lockdowns. Whenever patients are kept at homes cases reduce as chances of further transmission are low. Moreover, we imposed heavy fines on the violators [of SOPs] due to which people have started following them,' he said.

But an official of the Ministry of National Health Services said there was another reason behind the decrease in cases.

'It is being observed that if one person gets infected in a house the whole family goes into quarantine and does not get tested. Because of this practice, the number of daily cases has reduced,' he said.

However, Mr Shafqaat disagreed with the claim and said 1,400 of the total 3,000 were conducted in private labs on Sunday which meant that people wanted to get themselves tested even by paying around Rs7,000 per test. But only 189 people were confirmed as infected, he said.

He said though the number of cases had reduced, Eidul Azha and Muharram will be a major challenge.

Pims Joint Executive Director Dr Minhajus Siraj confirmed that the patient burden on the hospital had reduced.

'Almost two weeks ago, we had seven to...

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