Health experts fear a surge in coronavirus cases in Islamabad, Rawalpindi

RAWALPINDI: After 65 new patients have been tested positive for COVID-19 from Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) and Rawalpindi district over the last 24 hours, stoking fear among health experts that a surge in COVID-19 cases will be witnessed in the days to come.

According to a report published in The News on Monday, health experts said the continuous rise in virus cases reported in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi is alarming and that concerned government authorities should review their decision to reopen educational institutes and other public places.

The total number of patients reported in the region has jumped to 23,132 on Sunday out of which 21,956 have recovered while 473 have lost their lives to the virus.

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Moreover, there are 703 active cases in the twin cities that had dropped down to 450 in the second week of September.

Data collected by The News revealed that another 53 patients have been tested positive for the disease in the last 24 hours from the federal capital taking the tally to 16,766, whereas, 16,034 have recovered.

The virus has claimed a total of 183 lives in the federal capital so far.

In the last 24 hours, another 12 patients have been tested positive from Rawalpindi district taking the tally to 6366 of which 5,922 have recovered while 290 have succumbed to the virus.

At present, 12 patients from the district have been undergoing treatment at Rawalpindi Institute of Urology while the number of confirmed patients in home isolation is 142, Executive District Officer (Health) Dr  Sohail Ahmed Chaudhary told The News.