PESHAWAR: Twenty more people died of coronavirus in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Friday taking the province’s tally of fatalities from the virus to 541.

Five deaths were reported in Peshawar, four in Abbottabad, two each in Nowshera, Bajaur and Swat and one each in Mardan, Charsadda, Swabi, Malakand and Battagram.

A total of 541 new Covid-19 cases were reported in the day increasing the number of confirmed cases in the province to 12,459.

A health department report said 145 people recovered from the virus, so the number of such patients to 3,366.

Peshawar recorded 160 new cases and Swat 73. Both districts have so far registered 288 and 52 Covid-19 deaths respectively.

KP’s Covid-19 tests lowest among provinces, says WHO

Meanwhile, a report of the World Health Organisation said Peshawar and Swat were among the top 10 coronavirus-burdened districts in the country with 4,725 and 1,250 cases, respectively.

It said the Covid-19 tests being carried out in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were the lowest among provinces, so it should be increased to escalate testing services to diagnose patients and isolate them.

The report said KP had so far conducted 66,381 Covid-19 tests and of them, 11,373 were diagnosed with the virus.

According to it, 625 patients were admitted to the hospitals and of them, 337 were stable, 229 critical and 59 on ventilator.

A total of 7,098 patients have been kept in quarantine centres or at home.

Meanwhile, a health department report said of the 4,916 people quarantined after reaching Pakistan from Iran and Afghanistan, 3,192 were sent home after they tested negative for the virus.

It said 1,724 were still in quarantine centres in different parts of the province.

The report said the province had established 359 quarantine centres, where the suspected patients both from the province and abroad were kept.

It said 5,198 local suspected patients had been kept in the government-designated centres or at home and of them, 305 had passed away and 1,479 recovered from the virus.

Our correspondent from Bajaur adds: The latest Covid-19 fatality has taken the death toll from the virus in Bajaur tribal district to 19.

Officials of the local health department and district administration confirmed that the virus killed 65-year-old former official of the formerly Khar state and founding member of Khar Islahi Jirga on Wednesday morning.

They said the deceased along with few close relatives, including brother, remained admitted to the DHQ Hospital, Khar, for three weeks after testing positive for the virus.

The officials said the deceased’s younger brother, 63, had died of the virus on Wednesday.

He was laid to rest in native town, Khar, under the government’s guidelines.

Our correspondent from Batkhela adds: Three more people died of the virus at the high dependency unit at the District Headquarters Hospital here on Friday.

According to the hospital officials, the deceased included a 60-year-old resident of Dargai tehsil, a 59-year-old resident of Gaddar area in Chakdara, and a 60-year-old resident of Tazagram area.

They were brought to the hospital after their conditions deteriorated during quarantine time at home.

Published in Dawn, June 6th, 2020