KP loses 23 more lives to coronavirus

PESHAWAR: The deadly coronavirus claimed 23 more lives in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Tuesday, putting the death toll from the viral infection to 2,342 in the province.

Moreover, 1,011 people tested positive for the coronavirus, taking the tally to 87,055. Owing to the growing number of covid cases, the government increased capacity of the laboratories and 7,650 investigations were conducted on Monday and results released on Tuesday.

According to officials of the Health Department and experts, the number of people dying of coronavirus and infected every day is higher than the official figures released by the government. “Situation is quite alarming and there can hardly be a place in the cities and villages in the rural areas where the virus hasn’t reached and taken lives. It is high time for the government to use force and strictly stop gatherings of people either at weddings and funerals to prevent transmission of the virus,” an official of the department told The News.

Pleading anonymity, he said they had advised the government to take measures immediately and strictly implement the standard operating procedures or else it would be too late to handle the patients in the hospitals.

He said that most of the people dying of coronavirus in the rural areas or remote parts of the province are not reported. “These figures are of the patients who died in the hospitals. There is a great number of people who died at homes in the rural areas and they go unnoticed.” official of the Health Department believed.

According to the officials, Peshawar was still ahead of other places in KP due to high number of fatalities and positive cases from the viral infection. Of 23 fatalities, 15 died alone in Peshawar. It has so far lost 1,245 people against the coronavirus. Three others died in Abbotabad and two each in Swat and Swabi and one in Lower Chitral. Three patients died of coronavirus in the Mardan Medical Complex but they were not reported in the official statement released by the provincial Health Department.

A spokesman for the MMC, Ziaul Islam, two women and a man died of COVID-19 in the hospital. He said 100 patients with symptoms of coronavirus were under treatment in the MMC of which 78 had tested positive for infectious disease.

Ziaul Islam said they had a 17-bed ICU in the tertiary care hospital and all beds were occupied by the covid patients. He said they had reserved 144 beds for the covid patients.

In Peshawar, 376 people tested positive for the viral infection, bringing the total number of positive cases to 35,793. Swat reported 128 positive cases, Swabi 84, Charsadda 56, Mardan 52, Haripur 42, Malakand 41, Nowshera 32, Bannu 30, Bajaur 26, Lower Dir 24, and Kohat 20.

In the Hayatabad Medical Complex, the administration has arranged 30 ventilators, out of 55, for the Covid patients. Presently 29 ventilators are occupied by the Covid-19 patients. There are 154 dedicated to the Covid patients and 134 are occupied by the patients.

In the Khyber Teaching Hospital, the hospital administration has reserved 106 beds for the coronavirus patients and 105 were occupied by the patients on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, despite the fact the Peshawar district administration had on Monday declared Section 144 in the provincial capital city and made it mandatory for the people to wear face masks while going to public, majority of the people violated the government order on the very first day due to poor implementation of the authorities.