PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa health department recorded 25 more mortalities and 549 new Covid-19 patients as the administration ordered smart lockdown in five areas of Peshawar, which had been recording more deaths and cases since the onset of the pandemic.

The new areas, which came under restrictions from 9pm on Tuesday, included Faisal Colony area bound by Dalazak Road, Gulabad Chowk Road and Ghareebabad Road, Street No.11 to 14 at Sector F-10 in Phase-VI of Hayatabad, Faqirbad bound by Post Office Road and Dalazak Road, Zaryab Colony bound by Yousafabad Road, Allied Bank Road and Dalazak Road and ljazabad area bound by Nimra Street, Zulfiqar Street and Shehzad Street.

A notification, issued by Deputy Commissioner Khalid Mahmood on the recommendations of district health officers due to surge in Covid-19 cases, said that entry and exist of the areas were restricted to control transmission of the virus.

With exceptions including the outlets dealing in essential items, medicines, healthcare and necessary food item, other businesses will stay shut whereas gathering of over five persons will be prohibited. The same number of people will be allowed to offer congregational payers in the mosques in the areas where lockdown has been imposed.

KP reports 25 more deaths due to coronavirus

All relevant officials have been directed to penalise the violators of the restrictions as per law, according to a press release.

The administration has been imposing smart lockdown in different areas of Peshawar, the hardest-hit district, which has so far recorded 2,397 deaths of the total 4,988 persons fallen to the virus since the outbreak of the pandemic in the province.

The most populous city of the province has also recorded 59,359 cases of the overall 162,402 patients in the province. The city has 13.4 per cent positivity rate, the highest in the province. It is also home to 2,045 active cases of the existing 7,744 cases in the province.

Peshawar has 600 of the total 1,230 patients admitted to different hospitals in the province. The health department has been conducting over 20 per cent Covid-19 tests in Peshawar.

Officials said that interruption of coronavirus in Peshawar meant prevention of the pandemic by 50 per cent. Peshawar has also witnessed 54,917 recoveries, the highest number recorded by any district.

However, officials said that the administration needed to strictly impose Covid-19 precautions in Peshawar as it was reporting the highest number of deaths and cases every day. They added that administration was sealing shops and penalising people for non-adherence to standard operating procedures but the situation was not showing signs of improvement to a desired level.

A report by health department showed that five more persons died in Abbottabad where 51 more cases were reported. Abbottabad, with over two per cent positivity level, has so far recorded 332 deaths and 7,593 cases.

The report said that the province reported 692 recoveries and tested 10,755 suspected patients with overall six per cent positivity during the last 24 hours. With passing away of four more persons, the number of fatalities reached 462 in Mardan, which recorded the country’s first casualty of coronavirus in March last year. Currently, positivity in Mardan is 8.8 per cent.

One each person died of coronavirus in Kohat, Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan. Nowshera, where positivity remained 7.6 per cent, diagnosed 32 new cases. Positivity in Swabi was 6.3 per cent and it also recorded 37 fresh cases.

Officials said that smart lockdown was imposed in the areas that reported two or more cases. Currently over 100 areas are facing restrictions due to presence of more cases.

Published in Dawn, September 1st, 2021