PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has sent home 121 pilgrims from quarantine centre in Dera Ismail Khan after they tested negative for Covid-19 as two persons including a woman and man died of the infection in Nowshera and Bannu on Wednesday.

The number of overall cases in the province reached 280. Mardan recorded seven new cases, Mansehra two, Abbottabad three and Haripur two while one new case was registered in Bannu, Upper Dir, Khyber, Kohat, Kurram, Nowshera, Orakzai, Tank and South Waziristan each.

Chief Minister Mahmood Khan told a meeting of National Coordination Committee on Covid-19 that medical equipments and personal protective equipments (PPEs) worth Rs1.5 billion for the frontline health workers were purchased and supplied on emergency basis to healthcare facilities.

In Swabi, a new case of coronavirus was confirmed.

Deputy Commissioner Shahid Mehmood said that the 50-year-old patient tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the tally of patients in the district to five.

In Nowshera, a woman died of Covid-19 in Qazi Hussain Ahmad Medical Complex on Wednesday.

Assistant Commissioner Talha Zubair said that 15 relatives of deceased were kept in isolation ward. The woman was admitted 10 days ago.

Deputy Commissioner Shahid Ali Khan said that the area, where the deceased lived, was sealed.

In Bajaur tribal district, a man tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday, taking tally to four in the region.

Dr Naseeb Gul, the deputy medical superintendent of district headquarters hospital, said that the 80-year-old patient was a member of Tableeghi Jamaat.

In Haripur, father of a corona-hit woman, home-quarantined since March 29, tested positive for the virus, increasing total cases in the district to four with 51 suspected patients.

Published in Dawn, April 2nd, 2020