Polyclinic Hospital closes OPD service amid Covid outbreak among staff

ISLAMABAD: Polyclinic Hospital Islamabad has closed outpatient department (OPD) service amid the Covid outbreak among doctors, nurses and paramedics, citing sources, ARY News reported on Thursday.

Sources told ARY News that more than 100 staffers of Polyclinic Hospital tested positive for Covid. The staff members include doctors, nurses and paramedics.

It was learnt that the medical centres and maternity department will remain open as per routine, whereas, the OPD service will be closed by January 31.

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Earlier in the day, after a decrease in the number of COVID-19 cases over the past two days, Pakistan has again reported 7,539 fresh cases of the pandemic during the last 24 hours.

According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), a total of 63,272 samples were tested, out of which 7.539 turned out to be positive at the positivity rate of 11.91pc as compared to yesterday’s 10.17pc.

With the emergence of fresh cases, the countrywide tally of cases has jumped to 1,393,887.

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Twenty-five more patients of COVID-19 succumbed to the viral disease in the last 24 hours, pushing the death toll to 29,162. The number of critical patients saw a minor decrease and were recorded at 1,240 as compared to yesterday’s 1,293.

Including 63,272 tests over the past hours, Pakistan has so far conducted  24,754,277 tests to diagnose the deadly virus and 1,272,871 people have regained their health including 1,784 in the past 24 hours.