PESHAWAR: For the second time in the current week, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa recorded no coronavirus case on Thursday.

However, health officials warned people against throwing caution to the wind and said preventive measures against Covid-19 should be adopted to contain its transmission.

The province hadn’t recorded any case of coronavirus the last time on May 3.

The officials told Dawn that if no Covid-19 case was reported for double incubation period i.e. 28 days, then the World Health Organisation would declare that the pandemic was over.

They said coronavirus prevention through surveillance and monitoring was the priority.

The officials said the people should use face mask to prevent infection and its transmission.

“New coronavirus variants are coming in from different countries, and we can continue with zero cases if the people get inoculated against the virus,” an official said.

He said since the pandemic began in March 2020, the province had consistently been diagnosing Covid-19 almost every day.

The official said immunisation was one of the reasons for the declining coronavirus incidence.

He said the province conducted 1,500 tests of suspected patients every day due to a drop in cases.

“When cases aren’t reported, then the number of screening and testing also declines. Five close contacts of every confirmed patient are traced and tested,” he said.

Meanwhile, other officials said the province had so far recorded 6,324 deaths and 219,532 cases but since last one month, two people had died of coronavirus.

They said 1,272 relatives and contacts of the confirmed cases were tested but none of them was positive that was a good sign but those people should continue following precautions.

Published in Dawn,May 6th, 2022