An official of Ministry of National Health Sciences (NHS) has said that relaxing the lockdown just before the Eid was a major ‘blunder’ of the federal government. He said that the relief caused a surge and changed the trend of coronavirus cases.
DAWN reported that the official of NHS, on the condition of anonymity, said that the violations of standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the novel coronavirus before and during Eid holidays have changed the trend of cases in the federal capital. “Relaxing the lockdown before Eid was a major blunder due to which the trend of cases changed. People visited hometowns for Eid and returned as virus carriers,” the official said.
He said that the health authorities in Islamabad were reporting around 50 cases per day in the federal capital, a week before relaxation. “We reported 44 cases on May 14, 55 on May 15, 26 on May 16, 50 on May 17 and 37 cases on May 18. However, the effects of relaxing the lockdown gradually became visible as cases started increasing a week after that step and jumped to 100 per day. For the last a few days, over 400 cases per day are being reported.”
The NHS official said that during the Eid holidays people went to different cities and returned after spending holidays in their native cities as carriers of the virus.
“The number of cases reported in the four months is equal to cases reported in the last three weeks. The trend shows that the situation will aggravate in coming days and we may have to seal some more areas,” he added.
However, focal person for Covid-19 in Islamabad and District Health Officer (DHO) Dr Zaeem Zia told the newspaper that there were a number of other reasons behind the increase in the number of cases in the capital. “We have conducted around 80,000 tests which is manifold higher per million population compared to other cities."
DAWN reported that the official of NHS, on the condition of anonymity, said that the violations of standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the novel coronavirus before and during Eid holidays have changed the trend of cases in the federal capital. “Relaxing the lockdown before Eid was a major blunder due to which the trend of cases changed. People visited hometowns for Eid and returned as virus carriers,” the official said.
He said that the health authorities in Islamabad were reporting around 50 cases per day in the federal capital, a week before relaxation. “We reported 44 cases on May 14, 55 on May 15, 26 on May 16, 50 on May 17 and 37 cases on May 18. However, the effects of relaxing the lockdown gradually became visible as cases started increasing a week after that step and jumped to 100 per day. For the last a few days, over 400 cases per day are being reported.”
The NHS official said that during the Eid holidays people went to different cities and returned after spending holidays in their native cities as carriers of the virus.
“The number of cases reported in the four months is equal to cases reported in the last three weeks. The trend shows that the situation will aggravate in coming days and we may have to seal some more areas,” he added.
However, focal person for Covid-19 in Islamabad and District Health Officer (DHO) Dr Zaeem Zia told the newspaper that there were a number of other reasons behind the increase in the number of cases in the capital. “We have conducted around 80,000 tests which is manifold higher per million population compared to other cities."