PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government is actively considering a proposal to close inter-district transport service to check the spread of coronavirus in the province.

A decision in this respect is likely to be made in few days, officials told Dawn.

They, however, said supplies trucks and private vehicles would continue to move among districts.

An official told Dawn that the government was also considering to order the closure of markets dealing in non-essential items.

Official says closure of markets dealing in non-essential items could also be ordered

The official said the Torkham border crossing could be opened to trade in few days.

Spokesman for the provincial government Ajmal Wazir told a news conference on Friday that 250 pilgrims had reached Dera Ismail Khan from Pak-Iranian border at Taftan before they’re quarantined.

He said 170 pilgrims had been sent to Gilgit-Baltistan from Dera Ismail Khan.

Mr Wazir said no confirmed coronavirus case was reported in the province on Friday.

Sources told Dawn that around 250 pilgrims from Taftan along with 26 drivers of their buses would be quarantined at the Gomal Medical College, which had the capacity of 250 people, and at Darazinda, which could house 50 people.

They said a 65-year-old pilgrim from Parachinar area in Kurram tribal district had died.

Provincial health minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra tweeted that the deceased had 20 years long history of diabetes and got sick while in transit to ‘zaireen quarantine facility’ early morning and was immediately shifted in ambulance to the emergency care in Dera Ismail Khan, where she passed away.

Mr Jhagra said prima facie, no symptoms of coronavirus were noted in the woman, while further details were awaited.

An official of the DI Khan administration told Dawn that 120 policemen had been deployed for the security of the area, where people were quarantined.

He said samples were being collected from the pilgrims, which would be dispatched to Peshawar for testing.

Meanwhile, the Khyber Medical University also formed a coronavirus core committee, which met on Friday to discuss ways to increase the capacity of the varsity’s public health reference laboratory (PHRL) to carry out coronavirus tests.

KMC Vice-Chancellor Prof Arshad Javaid chaired the meeting.

A statement issued here said the committee decided to enhance the testing capacity of PHRL up to 600 per day.

It also decided that urgent procurement of the equipment on the basis of bridge financing for scaling up the capacity of PHRL would be ensured, while steps would be taken for maintaining quality of coronavirus tests and bio-safety and infection control measures in the lab.

The meeting decided that two automated coronavirus testing machines would be purchased for PHRL to enhance its testing capacity up to 600 on immediate and emergency basis on the directives of the chief secretary.

It said a waste management company would be given responsibility to collect the biohazard waste from PHRL twice a day on regular basis.

Meanwhile, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority released Rs1.7 billion funds to all districts of the province to ramp up capacity to combat coronavirus outbreak and provide facilities in the respective quarantine centres.

DI Khan district got Rs300 million and Peshawar Rs200 million, while necessary equipment was provided to quarantine centres in DI Khan district.

According to the relief, rehabilitation and settlement department, the province’s 127 facilities has the capacity to quarantine over 3,200 people, while isolation wards has such capacity for 856 people.

Also in the day, the KP Apex Committee held a special meeting to discuss coronavirus outbreak in the province and took important decisions to control the spread of the virus.

A statement issued here said that the meeting was chaired by Governor Shah Farman and attended by Chief Minister Mehmood Khan and Corp Commander of Peshawar Lieutenant Gen Nauman Mehmood.

The participants decided about the join civil-military efforts to check the pandemic.

“The meeting noted that all civil and military institutions are fully alert to deal with any emergency in coming days and agreed that masses would be sensitised to adopt precautionary measures to avert the spread of the disease,” it said.

Irfan Mughal from Dera Ismail Khan also contributed to the report.

Published in Dawn, March 21st, 2020