Doctor among 25 die of coronavirus in KP

PESHAWAR: Dr Zahir Shah, former chief executive officer of Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH), was among the 25 people who died of coronavirus in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Thursday.

It was the highest death toll in one day from coronavirus in the ongoing fourth wave of the viral infection.

Dr Zahir Shah was a senior member of the medical community and had served in important positions in the province. He had retired from service.

According to sources close to Dr Zahir Shah, he had contracted the viral infection a few days ago and was admitted to the Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) Peshawar, where he breathed his last on Thursday.

The body of late Dr Zahir Shah was taken to his native Mardan district for burial after his largely attended funeral in Peshawar.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has lost a large number of health workers, 70 of them doctors, as a result of the coronavirus.

According to health experts, the situation in KP has started deteriorating after recent Moharam congratulations and the number of positive cases has risen to a large number recently.

Also, the government machinery seems to have failed miserably due to implementing the standard operating procedures devised by the relevant authorities to control transmission of the infectious disease.

The disease has so far killed 4884 people in KP, though it is stated that the human losses caused by the viral infection were quite high as a large number of people died in rural areas are not reported.

Of 25 fatalities, the provincial capital city of Peshawar alone lost 17 people. Peshawar has so far lost 2352 people from the coronavirus, followed by Mardan with four losses.

Also, KP recoded 519 more positive cases, rising the toll from the viral disease to 159483. In the educational institutions, teachers and students are required to wear face masks but according to the teachers and students, they can’t follow the SoPs by flowing masks due to hot weather and lack of fans in their classrooms.