PESHAWAR: Coronavirus has infected lesser number of women and caused lesser deaths among them than men since the outbreak of the pandemic in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, says a report by World Health Organisation.

The health experts said that women had less exposure to gatherings than men due to which they didn’t contract the infection more than males. The report of WHO, prepared by its Khyber Pakhtunkhwa office, says that Covid-19 has also killed fewer women than men.

The province reported 19 new positive cases and one death due to the virus during the last 24 hours, taking total tally of cases to 38,348 since the onset of the pandemic. The cases included 47,419 men and 10,929 women. The prevalence of virus has been found in 72 per cent men and 28 per cent women.

Experts cite wearing veil and less exposure to crowded places as reasons

The report has also shown less mortality from the virus in women as 319 women have died throughout the province. It is 25 per cent of the total deaths caused by the infection. On contrary, 945 men passed away in the province due to the infection that accounts for 75 per cent of the total 1,264 deaths so far.

Of the total confirmed cases, 36,591 have recovered from the ailment which is 95 per cent of the overall infected persons in the province. There are presently only 493 active cases in the province, which include 363 men and 130 women.

Men accounted for 74 per cent active cases and women for 26 per cent, said the report. It said that the province had 3.3 per cent case fatality rate (CFR), with 6.7 per cent, the highest, in North Waziristan where one death was recorded among 15 positive cases. National CFR is 2.06 per cent.

The report said that not only among common people but the number of positive cases and deaths was also higher among male health workers as compared to female health workers. Since the advent of the epidemic, 2,481 healthcare providers have got infection in the province including 1,810 men and 671 women.

The ratio of Covid-19 infectivity stood at 73:27 per cent among male and female.

According to the latest situation, the report indicated that there were 47 confirmed cases currently being hospitalised and 11 of them were on low flow oxygen, 26 on high flow, two on ventilators and eight were clinically stable.

The world health agency has reported that 21 healthcare providers have been died so far of the infection, which they contracted during duty hours. Of those, 21 health workers including one female breathed their last due to Covid-19 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Prof Mohammad Amjad Taqweem, a former physician at Lady Reading Hospital, told Dawn that women weren’t exposed to Covid-19 like men, which was one of the reasons behind their safety from the virus.

“Other causes include less exposure of women to crowded places, such as congregations, jobs etc and may be hormonal effect too. Females have different hormones than male which provide them safety against coronavirus, heart attack etc. Though science says women are superior but what makes them superior is their downfall also, as they develop breast ovary uterus cervix cancer. So, no one is perfect,” said Prof Amjad.

He said that as compared to men, women also wore veil, which acted as facemask. Adherence to social distancing measures, hand-washing and wearing masks were the main precautions against Covid-19 and all the people, men and women, should follow the standard operating procedures because the virus was not going to vanish anytime soon, he added.

Published in Dawn, October 14th, 2020