PESHAWAR: Twenty-seven more persons died and 667 new Covid-19 cases were detected in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Thursday as Swat, one of the low-vaccinated and high-risk districts, reported eight deaths.

According to a report of health department, in Mardan, where positivity for the virus was recorded 9.6 per cent, four people breathed their last. The district detected 129 new patients. Mardan’s tally of fatalities since the onset of pandemic is 129 so far.

Dera Ismail Khan reported three deaths and 30 positive patients.

Two persons died of the virus in Peshawar, the major hotspot of coronavirus, and diagnosed 158 fresh patients. The provincial capital has so far recorded 2,408 deaths of the 5,045 people fallen to the virus province-wide. With 11.1 per cent positivity rate, the most infected district in the province was also home to 1,791 active coronavirus cases of the total 7,942, said the report.

Swat reports eight of the total 27 deaths due to virus in KP

It said that of the overall 163,677 cases in the province, 150,694 patients (92 per cent), including 460 recorded during the last 24 hours, had recovered from the infectious disease.

The report said that two persons succumbed to the infection in Swabi, which had 8.8 per cent positivity. The district also confirmed 25 more patients.

It said that two persons each died in Haripur and Abbottabad and one each in Dir Lower, Kohat and Bannu. Nowshera with 7.3 per cent infectivity rate diagnosed 11 new patients.

Officials said that most infected districts included Peshawar, Swat, Mardan, Abbottabad, Haripur, Mansehra, Nowshera and Swabi. The virus is now widespread in the entire province but the main cities with a lot of public movements and activities are the main areas of concern because majority of the new cases are of Delta variant of the virus, which spreads rapidly also causes more deaths of the patients.

About 285 Delta cases have been diagnosed in Khyber Medical University where experts said that they tested 312 samples of which 235 were positive.

The health department is trying to increase vaccination and ensure that treatment services remain in place in all district hospitals and medical teaching institutions for coronavirus patients.

Officials said that Covid-19 prevention and control came under the domain of the district administrations. They added that enforcement of standard operating procedures including social distancing, hand hygiene and wearing face masks was part of the prevention and control of the pandemic.

Except a few districts where vaccine hesitancy has been reported, the immunisation campaign is gaining steam but adherence to SOPs is vital to put brakes on transmission of the virus.

Officials said that rise in hospitalisations due to Covid-19 was causing concerns among the physicians, who described the situation similar to abrupt surge in cases witnessed in middle of last year when hospitals were overcrowded with patients and beds were not available.

The province, which has currently 1,720 patients with 61 of them on ventilators, has a total of 3,400 beds allocated to Covid-19 patients. However, bed occupancy in high-risk district is reaching its capacity.

Mardan has 78 per cent bed occupancy, Abbottabad 63 per cent, Swat 61 per cent, Peshawar 52 per cent and Nowshera has 46 per cent bed occupancy. Overall positivity in the province is six per cent, according to the report.

Published in Dawn, September 3rd, 2021