PESHAWAR: With the coronavirus positivity rate reaching more than 10 per cent in Peshawar district, provincial chief secretary Dr Kazim Niaz has issued directives for the strict implementation of the Covid-19 standard operating procedures in the province.

According to the officials, the chief secretary asked the home secretary, commissioners and regional police officers to ensure that the people follow precautionary measures against the virus to stem its spread.

He said all necessary steps should be taken to check the Covid-19 transmission.

Dr Kazim asked the authorities to fine SOP violators and put non-pharmaceutical arrangements in place to protect population during the ongoing third virus wave, which, he said, is more dangerous than the previous ones.

The officials said they’re monitoring the situation and complete lockdowns could be imposed if the incidence surged.

They said there was a need for creating awareness of Covid-19 to ensure virus control and prevention.

Positivity rate reaches 10.17pc in Peshawar

The officials said more coronavirus patients were reported in Peshawar, Mardan, Nowshera, Charsadda, Malakand, Kohat and Swabi districts compared with southern districts, which were rather safe from the virus.

They said the merged tribal districts were also safe except for Khyber, where the virus positivity rate was over five per cent.

The official said Peshawar was the worst hit by the third coronavirus wave as the virus positivity rate had reached 10.17 per cent.

They said a steep increase in Covid-19 cases and deaths was recorded in the capital city but it came down due to the effective imposition of lockdowns.

The officials said the district administrations had been tasked with implementing complete or partial lockdowns in their respective areas on the recommendation of the district health officers and ensure vaccination of tourists and visitors hotels and other places.

Meanwhile, the officials said the bed occupancy in the province’s hospitals has increased by 100 per cent during the last one week, especially in Peshawar, which is receiving most of the patients.

They said on average, nine people had died of Covid-19 in the last one week, while the daily incidence had surged to 600.

The officials said the only way to control the virus was the SOP enforcement.

They said the Khyber Teaching Hospital Peshawar had admitted 102 coronavirus patients, Hayatabad Medical complex 111, Lady Reading Hospital 103 and Covid-19 Hospital Nishartabad 46 and that was 100 per cent more than last week’s.

The health minister met the bosses of the medical teaching institutions and discussed with them the availability of beds, ventilators and other equipment. He said the situation in hospitals was under control and the district headquarters hospitals had been alerted in view of the rising virus incidence.

The doctors said they and other hospital staff members had got enough experience in the management of Covid-19 patients.

They urged the people to visit hospitals in case of severe virus symptoms.

The doctors warned that the situation could worsen if the people continued to disregard SOPs during the current third wave.

They said a total of 9,662 senior citizens had so far been vaccinated against the virus.

Young Doctors’ Association Khyber Pakhtunkhwa president Dr Rizwan Kundi told Dawn that there was a lack of personal protective equipment in periphery hospitals demoralising health workers over threats to their life.

He, however, said tertiary care hospitals provided their workers with PPEs but if the incidence surged, the equipment stock would become insufficient.

“The government should provide hospitals with PPEs in large numbers to cope with the infection effectively,” he said.

Meanwhile, six people died of coronavirus and 592 were diagnosed with it in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during the last 24 hours, said a report of the health department.

It added that Covid-19 claimed three lives in Peshawar, two in Swat and one in Swabi.

Published in Dawn, March 21st, 2021