PESHAWAR: Coronavirus positivity level soared in Swabi and Mardan and receded in Peshawar as the province recorded 11 more deaths and 1,421 new cases on Tuesday.

Three persons died of the virus in Abbottabad, two each in Swabi, Kohat and Peshawar and one each in Bajaur and Mardan, according to a report of health department.

It said that the province’s tally of fatalities reached 6,076 while the number of infections and active cases was 205,505 and 14,142, respectively.

Swabi registered 35 per cent Covid-19 positivity rate, Nowshera 31 per cent, Mardan and Mansehra 23 per cent each, Chitral Lower 21 per cent and Peshawar recorded 17 per cent positivity level.

11 more people die of the virus in KP

Officials said that dealing with Covid-19 was not only the task of health department as role of administration and line departments was also significant. They said that health department was required to look into the diagnostic and treatment aspect of the pandemic while enforcement of mandatory vaccination regime and enforcement of standard operating procedure didn’t come under it.

They said that hospitals had performed well when Covid-19 was at its peak last year.

They said that 90 healthcare providers including doctors, nurses, paramedics and other employees passed away when they contracted the virus but patients received uninterrupted services. More than 5,000 health workers were infected with the virus, they added.

“The main part of Covid-19 prevention is vaccination and adherence to social distancing measures, hand hygiene and face masks but health department has no administrative powers and is recommending measures to the administrations for the purpose,” said officials.

They said that vaccination was duty of health department but their facilitation was job of administration to administer jabs to each and every person above 12 years.

“Our workers say that several people refuse vaccines on different pretexts but they are helpless to immunise them,” said officials.

They said that there must be penalties under the sets of laws invoked by the government to enforce coronavirus-related directives.

“The department has deployed 33,000 teams in the province-wide 14 days drive launched on February 2 to inoculate 8 million people in 22 districts. Each team has the services of one social mobiliser to prevail upon the defiant people and woo them on getting shots,” said vaccinators.

They said that even the line departments hadn’t achieved vaccination targets including immunisation of their officials and members of their families.

Officials said that health department was sending regular Covid-19 updates to Chief Secretary Dr Shehzad Bangash and directives were issued to the officials concerned over slow-paced immunisation as well as precautions in some areas.

They said that preventing spread of virus was a joint responsibility of all the departments and role of elected representatives was vital to ensure preventive measures by convincing their electorates to get vaccinated and stay safe from being infected but support from those quarters was not to a desirable level.

“We fear the Covid-19 vaccination is going polio’s way which has not been eradicated despite two decades of vaccination due to misconception and propaganda,” said officials.

They said that like polio vaccines, Covid-19 shots were also free of cost and administered in door-to-door campaigns due to which the opponents of vaccines came into play.

Health department has established 17 coronavirus laboratories in the province since the onset of the pandemic in February 2020. It has conducted 4.233 million free of cost tests and has given first dose to over 1 million people and second dose to 1.3 million residents of the province so far. “Action by administration is required to ensure that all eligible persons get protection through injections,” said officials.

Published in Dawn, February 9th, 2022