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Thursday March 28, 2024

Punjab’s Covid death rate sees sharp uptick, NCOC told

By APP
October 24, 2020

By News Desk

ISLAMABAD: The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Friday said the positivity ratio of Covid-19 cases on average was 40 per cent higher for the fifth consecutive day as new cases remained above 700 and deaths continued to register double digits.

An NCOC morning session, with Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar in the chair, was briefed by health officials about the increasing positivity ratio, increase in the number of hospital admissions and increasing number of deaths.

NCOC’s Friday update said 736 more people tested positive for the virus across the country in a 24-hour-period, raising active cases to 9,855, while 13 people, 12 of whom were under treatment in hospitals, died of Covid-related complications. Some 845 corona patients are admitted in hospitals, 89 of whom are on ventilator.

It was noted that Muzaffarabad, Hyderabad, Karachi and Gilgit have a higher positivity ratio, while other areas across the country remained high. Hospital admissions are also increasing — particularly in Punjab, the forum was told. “There is an increase in number of critical patients in hospitals,” a statement released following the meeting said.

The Punjab Chief Secretary updated the forum about the increasing figures in Punjab and told them the death ratio in Punjab was 1.6 per cent on September 1 while now it has risen to 6 per cent — a four-time increase. “Moreover, the test positivity ratio in Punjab has increased from 0.92 per cent to 1.33 per cent,” he said.

During the death analysis, the forum was told that Pakistan’s current “case fertility rate” is 2.06 per cent against the global 2.72 per cent. Around 71 per cent of total deaths comprise males, out of which 76 per cent are over the age of 50 years.

The forum will revisit the prevailing Covid-19 situation on Monday to further assess pandemic outbreak situation.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) mission appreciated the response of federal and provincial governments for effectively containing Covid-19 pandemic. The WHO mission from the EMRO region were presenting their findings at a debriefing session chaired by Special Assistant to Prime Minister on National Health Services Dr Faisal Sultan.

The WHO mission comprises of a team of WHO experts who were visiting Pakistan from October 14 to 24. The objectives of the mission are to review lessons learn from Pakistan’s Covid-19 response to work with national and provincial experts in health. The main area of review was surveillance, point of entry, risk communication and community engagement, and continuity essential health services.

Dr Palitha Mahipala, head of mission, WHO was also present in the meeting. Dr Sultan appreciated the efforts of WHO mission and WHO Country Office in identifying the gaps and recommendations in the suggested areas of the International Health Regulations 2005.

He acknowledged that by strengthening the gaps and identified areas, we can enable the health system to deal with any kind of infectious disease emergency, as Covid-19.