Rawalpindi-Islamabad worst hit: Islamabad sees Eid shoppers throw caution out of window

ISLAMABAD: Though a weekday, Friday witnessed unprecedented crowds of shoppers in markets and malls of Islamabad and Rawalpindi as it was the last day before the start of the weeklong pandemic-induced closure of businesses in complete disregard of Covid-19 SOPs. The twin cities have been worse hit by coronavirus in its third intense wave. As many as 480 deaths were reported from March 1 and over 100,000 patients uptil Friday. In last 24 hours four deaths, 467 COVID-19 cases were reported from the twin cities

Muhammad Qasim adds: The intensity of the third wave of coronavirus illness, COVID-19 outbreak can be gauged from the fact that well over 31 per cent of all cases so far reported from Pakistan have been registered from March 1 this year to date while 30.95 per cent of all deaths caused by the disease from the country have been reported in the last 68 days. The worst is the situation in Islamabad Capital Territory and Rawalpindi district from where as many as 480 deaths have been reported from March 1 to date that makes 30 per cent of all deaths caused by COVID-19 in the twin cities while in the last 68 days, as many as 42,831 new patients have been tested positive for the disease from the region making 42.76 per cent of all cases so far reported from the twin cities.

The number of patients reported from ICT and Rawalpindi district has crossed the figure of 100,000 on Friday making around 11.8 per cent of all cases so far reported from Pakistan.

It is important that the third wave of COVID-19 outbreak has proved to be much intense as out of a total of 850,131 cases so far reported from the country, 268,766 cases have been registered in the last 68 days while from March 1 to date, as many as 5m781 patients have lost their lives from all across the country. In the previous year, the virus claimed 12,896 lives from Pakistan.

Data collected by ‘The News’ on Friday reveals that another 467 patients have been tested positive in the last 24 hours from ICT and Rawalpindi district taking the tally to 100,157 along with four deaths that has taken the total number of deaths so far reported from the twin cities to 1,609.

According to details, another three patients from the federal capital have died of the disease in the last 24 hours while as many as 349 new patients have been tested positive for the illness taking the tally to 77,414 of which 65,524 have recovered and 702 have lost their lives. On Friday, the number of active cases of COVID-19 from the federal capital was 11,188.

From Rawalpindi, one patient died of the illness in the last 24 hours while 118 new patients were tested positive taking tally to 22,743. To date, a total of 20,435 confirmed patients from the district have recovered from COVID-19 and 907 have lost their lives.

The number of active cases from Rawalpindi was 1,401 on Friday of which as many as 100 patients were undergoing treatment at the healthcare facilities and 1,301 were in home isolation.

Against the backdrop, people, especially women and children, jostled and shoved each other pushing their way to garment, footwear, jewellery, crockery and grocery shops, especially near the market closure time of 6pm.

Only a few were seen follow precautionary measures against coronavirus. Most visitors blatantly flouted the mask and physical distancing restrictions as officials of the police and administration weren’t there.

Massive traffic jams were reported in Islamabad’s G-9, Jinnah Super, Super, F-8, G-10 and Aabpara markets and Rawalpindi’s Saddar, Raja Bazaar, Commercial Market, Murree Road, Lalkurti and Chorh Chowk markets, especially in the afternoon.

People also went to vegetable markets and weekly bazaars in large numbers. The traders said the shoppers also included the residents of the outskirts of the twin cities. Complaining about low sales compared with previous Eids, they demanded relaxation in lockdown for loss prevention.