PESHAWAR: At least three more people died of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Friday taking the province’s tally of such deaths to 48.

Of the new fatalities, two were reported in Peshawar’s Lady Reading Hospital and one in Swat’s Saidu Teaching Hospital.

The patients, who breathed their last in Peshawar, included a 70-year-old local resident and a 65-year-old resident of Timergara.

According to the health department, the province has so far recorded 993 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 205 of them have been sent home after complete recovery.

The department said in a report that 202 coronavirus patients were stable but nine were critical.

KP virus deaths total 48

It added that the province had so far recorded 5,410 suspected Covid-19 cases.

The patient, who passed away in Swat, was admitted to the high-density unit at the Saidu Teaching Hospital.

According to media coordinator of the hospital Dr Mohammad Khan, the deceased, Abdul Wasey, 64, belonged to Shalpin area of Khawazkhela tehsil. He also suffered from asthma, blood pressure and hepatitis C and had been in critical condition for one week.

Eight new Covid-19 cases were reported in Swat taking the tally of the confirmed cases in the region to 73.

According to officials, the district has so far recorded 528 suspected cases of the virus and 372 them tested negative, while the test reports of 83 are awaited. Eleven patients have so far recovered from the infection.

The administration of Bajaur tribal district on Friday declared the Tableeghi Markaz in Sadiqabad town of Khar tehsil a quarantine facility after two members of the Tableeghi Jamaat tested positive for coronavirus.

Assistant commissioner of Khar sub-division Fazal Rahmeen said the new confirmed cases from among Tableeghi Jamaat members were non-locals and had been living in the Markaz for around a month.

He added that both patients were shifted to isolation wards in the District Headquarters Hospital, Khar.

The official said senior administration officials along with police personnel visited the Tableeghi Markaz and asked members of preachers to restrict themselves to the premises, while police personnel were deployed at the entrance and around the street.

Meanwhile, deputy medical superintendent of the District Headquarters Hospital, Khar, Dr Naseeb Gul told Dawn that the two preachers, who tested positive for the virus, belonged to Balochistan and they reached the Markaz along with colleagues from Raiwind on March 15.

He said the other Tableeghi Jamaat members tested negative for the virus.

In Lower Dir district, a Turkish national and three residents tested positive for Covid-19 taking the region’s infection tally to 29.

Deputy district health officer Dr Irshad Rughani said the Turkish national was part of a Tableeghi mission in Lower Dir and that he was shifted to an isolation ward at the DHQ Hospital, Timergara.

He said the colleagues of the foreigner were sent back to Lahore after they tested negative for the virus.

Two family members of Chishti Gul, who had died of corona virus at the LRH, Peshawar, tested positive for the virus in Mohmand tribal district.

However, six others tested negative.

Published in Dawn, April 18th, 2020