Covid cases: Smart lockdown recommended on 62 localities in Islamabad

ISLAMABAD: The District Health Officer (DHO) has recommended imposing smart lockdown on 62 localities in the federal capital Islamabad following a rise in  COVID-19 cases fuelled by the Omicron variant, ARY News reported on Saturday.

The DHO Islamabad said in a statement that COVID-19 cases are consistently increased in educational institutions.

He directed the sealing of four universities of Islamabad as 13 cases were reported in Quaid-e-Azam University (QAU) and seven in the International Islamic University of Islamabad (IIUI).

READ: PUNJAB REPORTS 100 OMICRON CASES IN 24 HOURS WITH 95 IN LAHORE

Eight cases were reported in Aiwan-e-Sadar Colony, 10 in Prime Minister House Staff Colony and 20 in the Diplomatic Enclave, said the DHO.

The health officer recommended imposing a smart lockdown in the COVID-affected areas of the federal capital.

Pakistan reported as many as 6,540 new cases of Covid-19 and 12 deaths in the past 24 hours, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) said on Saturday.

A total of 58,902 samples were tested, out of which 6,540 turned out to be positive, showing an infection rate of 11.10 per cent. The nationwide tally of confirmed infections rose to 1,360,019 with the addition of 6,540 new cases.

READ: NCOC ISSUES FRESH COVID GUIDELINES FOR MOSQUES

12 more patients succumbed to the viral disease in the past 24 hours, taking the death toll to 29,077. The NCOC said the number of patients in critical care in various hospitals across the country has risen to 1,055.

It said the highest positivity ratio of infections was recorded in Karachi at 45.14 per cent, followed by Muzaffarabad at 20.33pc, Hyderabad at 17.35pc, Peshawar at 13.79pc, Lahore at 12.78pc, and Islamabad at 12.60pc.