PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has recorded co-morbidities in 85 per cent of the people, who died of Covid-19, compared to 74 per cent among the nationwide deaths happened due to the pandemic, according to official reports.

Two separate reports compiled by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa health department and National Emergency Centre (NOC), Ministry of Health Services Regulations and Coordination have shown the pre-existing health conditions, their age groups, gender and ventilation status of the people dying of Covid-19.

The provincial report said that among the deceased, 36 per cent suffered from cardiovascular diseases (CVD), 31 per cent from diabetes, 10 per cent from hypertension, five per cent from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), three per cent from chronic kidney disease (CKD) and 15 per cent didn’t have ailment but died due to the pandemic.

Report says most mortalities suffered by men with 81pc of them above 50

On June 4, 541 people fell prey to the epidemic in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. They included 286 in Peshawar, of whom 273 remained on ventilators and 13 died either in high dependency or isolation wards.

In Swat, 25 of the overall 53 people dying of the pandemic stayed on ventilators.

In Malakand district, total deaths numbered 37 due to the virus with 21 of them receiving mechanical ventilation in the hospitals while in Abbottabad 12 of the 22 dead persons remained on ventilation.

A total of 349 people remained on ventilators.

The report said that most of the mortalities were suffered by males with 81 per cent of them above 50 years. It showed that 29 per cent (157) of the dead people were among age group of 60-69 years; 27 per cent (143) were in age group of 50-59 years; 19 per cent (100) in age group of 70-79 years; 13 per cent (72) were in age group of 40-49 years; six per cent (31) were above 80 years; four per cent (23) 30-39 years; two per cent (10) in age group of 20 -29 years while two of the dead people aged were between 10-19 years.

The countrywide ratio of deaths in male was 73 per cent, the NOC report said.

A total of 2002 deaths analysed by the NOC on June 6 revealed that the dead persons were aged between one to 102 years with median age 60 years. Of them, 74 per cent were above 50 years.

At the national level, 55 per cent of the deceased persons remained on ventilators as opposed to KP where 64 per cent stayed on ventilators with average stay of two to 9 days, it said.

The report said that 76.8 per cent of the confirmed patients recorded nationwide were below 51 years while four of the deceased aged between one to 10 years.

According to it, 1461 of dead people were male, 540 female and one transgender person. About the health workers, the NOC report said that healthcare providers had died of Covid-19 including 18 doctors, eight paramedics, two nurses and one medical student in all the provinces.

Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2020