PESHAWAR: About 90 per cent fatalities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa due to Covid-19 were found in the people with older age and underlying medical conditions as eight more deaths due to the pandemic and 307 fresh cases were recorded in the province on Thursday.

The number of incidences is on decline while the mortalities are on the rise because Covid-19 is extremely fatal for people above the age of 60 years or those with comorbidities, according to officials.

For the past one week, the province has been reporting less than 300 Covid-19 cases per day. It shows that infectivity is slowing down but the number of deaths is not receding because the elderly persons, especially those with underlying health conditions, are falling victim to the infection.

“It is a good omen for the province that less people are getting infected with the virus but the deaths of elderly people are a matter of concern which can be stopped through awareness among the public,” said officials.

Most of the fatalities found among elderly and ill people

They said that the province also reported more than 2,000 cases in schools but none of them passed away because they had stronger immunity against the virus due to their younger age, however, they were careers of the virus and could transmitted in their homes and in the community.

“Same is situation in the markets, which are bustling with people as usual and in the process the virus reaches the elderly and ill people to infect and kill them ultimately,” said officials.

A health department report said that 1,710 persons had died of coronavirus in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since the onset of the pandemic and 90 per cent of them happened to be above 60 years and suffered from kidney, heart, lungs and other ailments that made them vulnerable to the infection and they subsequently died. On the other hands, young people remained symptomless despite being diagnosed with Covid-19.

The province has so far recorded 60,536 cases and 92 per cent of them have recovered.

The case fatality rate (CFR) has come down to 2.8 per cent. It was above 6 per cent a fortnight ago. Similarly, of the total 545 confirmed cases, who are currently hospitalised in various parts of the province, more than 90 per cent are more than 60 years of age.

Of the admitted patients, 124 are on low flow oxygen, 387 on high flow and 34 on are ventilators as they are in critical condition.

“The virus is known to kill older people and therefore, more emphasis is being laid to safeguard the people in upper age group of 60 years and those who have other illness,” said officials.

They said that since the advent of the virus in the province, the hospitals had been admitting older people because of deterioration of their conditions after Covid-19 positivity.

Despite testing positive for Covid-19, a large number of younger people got recovered without hospitalisation or medication, they said.

The health experts suggest a strong public awareness drive to ask the older and ill people to stay home and follow precautionary measures strictly to bring down fatalities from the virus.

Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2021