PESHAWAR: Covid-19 claimed 20 more lives and infected 292 persons in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as the district administration sealed educational institutions for violating the coronavirus precautions on Monday.

Positivity rate for the virus went up in Peshawar from 10.8 per cent to 11 per cent. The provincial capital recorded 12 mortalities and 70 more cases, according to a health department report.

Fifty-five per cent Covid-19 beds remained occupied in the hard-hit district, which had so far recorded 2,516 fatalities and 61178 cases of the total 5,290 mortalities and 155,751 cases, respectively.

According to the report, four persons passed away of the virus in Mardan where positivity rate rose from 8.7 per cent to 11.3 per cent. The district also recorded 34 more confirmed patients. Occupancy of beds in Mardan’s hospitals is 38 per cent.

It said that two people succumbed to the pandemic in Abbottabad, another virus-hit district where infectivity level was 2.5 per cent and bed occupancy 37 per cent. The district detected 25 more patients.

Pandemic claims 20 more lives in KP

One death due to coronavirus was reported from Swat, where positivity level was recorded 3.1 per cent and bed occupancy 48 per cent.

The report said that one coronavirus patient passed away in Bannu. It added that a total of 9,109 suspected people were tested in the province and overall positivity was registered 6 per cent.

Of the total infected persons, 169,040 patients (92 per cent), including 343 recorded during the last 24 hours, have recovered from the infectious disease whereas the number of active patients in the province stands at 7,999.

The report said that positivity for the virus in Swabi swelled from 6.6 per cent to 7.1 per cent with 60 per cent bed occupancy.

As Peshawar remained the epicentre of the pandemic since its advent early last year, the administration continued to take action against violation of standard operating procedures.

A press release said that the administration closed down Edwardes College and School, The Smart School Saddar campus in cantonment area while Fahim Model School and College and Iqra Model School were sealed in Sarband area.

Deputy Commissioner Khalid Mahmood instructed the officials concerned to carry out inspections of schools, business outlets and markets and take action against the violators of SOPs.

He urged people to adhere to Covid-19 precautions in view of the fourth wave of the pandemic and the widespread Delta variant of the virus, which was more lethal than the previous strains.

He said that the schools and colleges should stay shut in line with the directives of National Command and Operation Centre because adherence to SOPs was the only means to interrupt transmission of the virus.

Meanwhile, senior health officials told Dawn that the prevention of transmission of the virus was the main objective of SOPs. It is the responsibility of the administrations to ensure that the people follow the preventive measures.

They said that vaccination of people above 15 was also started in the province alongside the adult population above 18 years. They said that they would recommend strict measures regarding SOPs if the infection continued to surge.

The officials said that there was no way to stop the infection from spreading without adherence to SOPs. People should get vaccinated as soon as possible and start complying with the precautions, they added.

“Not only in Peshawar but administration in other districts should speed up action against violators of the precautionary measures. Vaccination is another area where the government is trying to inoculate more people. We cannot return to normal life as far as the virus stays around and the people show hesitancy in getting vaccinated,” they said.

Published in Dawn, September 14th, 2021