Corona claims over 100 lives in a day

ISLAMABAD: The countrywide death toll from the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) rose to 1,998 on Saturday with over 100 deaths reported in a single day.

The total number of confirmed cases rose to 98,769 cases with 4,734 new cases.

Of the total 98,227 cases, the Sindh reported 36,364 cases, Punjab 37,090, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 13,001, Balochistan 6,221, Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) 4,323, Gilgit-Baltistan 897, and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) 331.

The death toll rose to 1,998, with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa reporting 561, Punjab 683, Sindh 634, Balochistan 54, Gilgit-Baltistan 13, Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) 45, and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) 8.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 20 more people died on Saturday, taking the toll to 561 – the highest number of fatalities in any part of the country.

In addition, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa reported 542 more cases, raising the total number of positive cases to 13,001.

Peshawar is still ahead of all other districts in the country in terms of fatalities and positive cases.

Of 561 deaths, 12 were reported from Peshawar, two each from Buner, Bajaur, and Battagram, and one each from Nowshera, and. Haripur.

With the latest deaths, the number of fatalities reached 300 in Peshawar. Second is Swat after Peshawar in terms of human losses and positive cases.

Swat has lost 52 people to Covid-19 and recorded 1257 positive cases.

Of 542 new cases, Peshawar reported 175 positive cases, taking the toll from Covid-19 to 4757. Swat was second to Peshawar in terms of reporting the highest number of positive cases as it recorded 59 positive cases, taking the toll from Covid-19 to 1257.

Karak and Bajaur reported each 29 positive cases, Abbottabad and Charsadda 28 each cases, Khyber and Dir Lower 25 each, Battagram 16, Haripur 15, Mansehra 12, Dera Ismail Khan and Mardan 10 each and Kohat recorded seven cases. In addition, 26 cases were reported from international flights.

According to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), Punjab, 37,090 individuals were infected until 10pm, while 1,782 new cases had been detected.

A total of 7,668 tests were performed, while 24 more people died in the last 24 hours. The death toll in the province stood at 683, while 8,109 people have recovered.

Meanwhile, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on National Health Services Dr Zafar Mirza Saturday said 75 percent beds at the intensive care units (ICU) of hospitals were unoccupied, dispelling the impression of shortage of facilities for COVID-19 patients.

In a media briefing, Dr Mirza said only 25 percent beds with ventilators were being used at hospitals to support corona patients, while sufficient quantity was available for incoming patients and there was no shortage of beds, ventilators or any other facility for the Covid-19 patients.

He said the lockdown policy was being implemented in 700 areas of the country to avoid spread of the disease, while only such places were sealed where there were threats of massive local transmission.

He said there was no shortage of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) kits for frontline health workers and doctors, as the government was regularly providing PPE kits to 450 hospitals across the country.

He said the government was committed to ensuring availability of medical services for corona patients at hospitals and provision of best possible medical treatment.

In this regard, a Resource Management System (RMS) has been developed to collect and provide real-time information about Corona patients throughout the country.

He said the government had developed this system with having update on status of available facilities at public sector hospitals for COVID-19 patients.

He said with this system, the government would be able to know the beds and ventilators occupancy and availability at ICU and allocated wards of hospitals.

He said with the help of this system, the authorities concerned could easily manage the situation in hospitals to properly treat the corona patients.

He added that shortage of any necessary equipment could be managed. He said all the hospitals across Pakistan had been linked with this system.

He said these hospitals could update real time data to provide a unified and consolidated picture of the resources available to treat Corona patients in respective hospital.

Dr Zafar said steady and adequate direct supplies of PPE was being handled by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

He said the federal government had started “We Care” campaign for protecting and supporting frontline health workers in the context of Covid-19.

“We Care” aims to provide adequate personal protective equipment to the health workers, orienting them on using various PPE items as per international standards, and creating an overall psychosocial environment of care and support.

He said this initiative also aimed at sensitizing the public, including patients and visitors at healthcare facilities, to supports frontline healthcare workers by following preventive behaviors to not only reduce the risk of infection to themselves, but also reduce the work burden on and health risks for the health providers.

Dr Mirza appealed to citizens to follow all the standard operating procedures (SOPs) during these days and avoid shaking hands and leaving home without any reason.

He said there were complaints about violation of SOPs in markets by the citizens and shopkeepers.

He asked the citizens to support the efforts of government in its fight against COVID-19 and effectively implementing its lockdown relaxation policy to continue business activities and normalizing the lives of citizens.

He said this relaxation policy could be successfully implemented if citizens fully cooperated with the government and implemented all SOPs.

Meanwhile, in a tweet, Dr Zafar said fake news were circulating about him and his wife turning corona positive.

“THIS IS INCORRECT. Both of us are negative Alhamdolilah. But who will make accountable the irresponsible media that keeps reporting unsubstantiated news. Legal notice is on the way to the below!”

Meanwhile, Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar Saturday urged the nation to show sense of responsibility and discipline as much as to contain the spread of coronavirus as it had shown in the early days of the virus.

In the early days of virus, people had shown great discipline and followed the guidelines to restrain spread of the disease; however, I was much disappointed to see a clear violation of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) issued by the government during last days of Ramazan and during Eid celebrations, he said while addressing the media here after chairing a meeting of National Command and Operation Center (NCOC).

The minister urged the people to follow the guidelines and show discipline again so that the increasing number of corona cases could be restricted.

The most successful and powerful strategy is that all people should bring changes in their lives in order to defeat this pandemic, he added.

He said the people who were not following the SOPs were not only endangering their own life, but they were also threatening lives of others.

He specifically urged the trade and industries leadership to play role in acting upon the guidelines agreed by them.

Asad Umar said slowing the pace of the spread of coronavirus was still top most priority of the government and it was acting upon the smart lock down strategy.

At present, he said 884 places across the country had been sealed due to corona cases in particular areas and almost 200,000 people were affected by such lockdowns. However, he said troubling 200,000 people at the cost of saving 210 million people was a reasonable step.

Asad Umar said the disease was not as fatal in Pakistan as it was in the Western countries.

In Pakistan, he said only nine people out of one million population had died of COVID-19 whereas in United Kingdom (UK), 600 corona patients were died out of one million population.

However, he said the life of every person was very important and all 1935 people who died so far were definitely dear ones of their family members and nothing could replace them.

Briefing about 100 days of coronavirus in the country, Asad Umar said on February 26, only 8 laboratories were working and 472 tests were taken on that day.

Today, he said over 100 labs were working across the country and around 22000 tests were being taken daily.

But the testing capacity was even more as the country had a testing capacity of 35000 in a day.

He said number of ventilators had also been increased and National Disaster Management Authority had also kept ventilators in reserve, which were being provided to the hospitals on demand.

In a related development, to enhance the capacity and meet requirements of provinces including AJK, GB, and ICT, the NCOC has allocated and issued 250 additional vents over last one week to overcome challenges in critical care.

In Punjab, 72 vents were issued for Faisalabad, Multan, Rawalpindi, and Lahore, while in Sindh, 52 news vents were issued for Karachi and Sukkur.

In KP, 52 new vents were issued for Peshawar & Abbotabad, while in Balochistan, a total of 20 new vents were issued for Quetta.

In GB and AJK, a total of 10 new vents each were issued, while the PIMS, Islamabad got 24 new vents, and Polyclinic 10.

The total number of hospitals with Covid isolation/cases management facility is 747. The total number of beds allocated for Covid patients is 22,589, total patients admitted 5060, total no of beds with oxygen facility for Covid patients is 5,060, total ventilators available for Covid patients is 1,400.

Availability of vents: Only 32% vents allocated for Covid occupied to date.

Punjab

Faisalabad

Total 150, allocated-for covid 57, Occupied 5

Lahore

Total available 793, allocated for Covid 214, Occupied 77

Multan

Total available 150, allocated for covid 18, Occupied 6

Rawalpindi

Total 229, allocated for covid 64, Occupied 22

Sindh

Karachi

Total 461, allocated for covid 136, Occupied 62

Hyderabad

total available 50, allocated for covid 20, Occupied 0

KP

Peshawer

Total available 171, allocated for covid 75, Occupied 47

Abbotabad

Total available 25, allocated for covid 12, Occupied 4

Balochistan

Quetta

Total available 61, allocated for covid 29, Occupied 0

Islamabad

Total available 246, allocated for covid 92, Occupied 13

GB

Gilgit

Total available 26, allocated for covid 05, Occupied 01

AJK

Mirpur

Total available 11, allocated for covid 11,

Muzaffarabad

Total available 28, allocated for covid 18,