PESHAWAR: Fatalities due to Covid-19 reached 610 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as nine more persons infected with the virus passed away on Wednesday.

The province recorded 679 new confirmed patients of coronavirus. It is the highest number of people affected by the pandemic in a single day since the onset of the disease. The province scorecard of positive patients stands at 15,206, according to Covid-19 report released by the health department.

Meanwhile, a report prepared by Emergency Operation Centre, Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination said that the virus had infected 3,328 healthcare providers in the country and 1,037 of them belonged to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Five of the deaths occurred in Peshawar where number of fatalities due to coronavirus reached 328, the highest number recorded by any district in the country. The provincial capital also reported 227 new positive cases, which is also the highest number of people infected with the sickness in a single day, taking the overall count of positive patients to 5,516.

Two Covid-19 patients died in Abbottabad where tally of dead persons reached 28 while Karak and dir Upper saw death of one person each from the infection. Dir Lower confirmed 67 more patients, raising its tally to 599 while the adjacent Dir Upper recorded 58 cases, making its total count 339. Both the districts have registered 16 and four fatalities due to the virus so far.

Death toll in the province reaches 610 as nine more die

Swat, another hard-hit district, reported 42 cases. Its scorecard is having 1,409 total cases, the second highest number after Peshawar in the province. The district has also enlisted 54 deaths from the pandemic, the most by any district of the province except Peshawar.

Cases in Charsadda reached 418 with 49 new cases and in Mardan 656 with 24 new patients, according to the report. It said that 140 people recovered from the ailment, raising overall count of healed patients to 3,771 in the province.

Buner recorded 22 new cases, Haripur 19, Nowshera 17 and Karak and Dera Ismail Khan recorded 11 cases each.

The released by Emergency Operation Centre said that 34 healthcare providers died of Covid-19 in the country. They included 12 in Sindh, seven in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, six in Punjab, five in Balochistan, two each in Gilgit-Baltistan and Islamabad, it said.

A total of 3,328 doctors, nurses and other health workers have contracted Covid-19 in the country. They include 1,037 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 808 in Sindh, 777 in Punjab, 309 in Islamabad, 308 in Balochistan, 63 in Gilgit-Baltistan and 26 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

As of June 8, the Covid-19 infected 1,965 doctors including 618 in Sindh, 476 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 425 in Punjab, 243 in Balochistan, 174 in Islamabad, 17 in Gilgit-Baltistan and 12 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

The number of countrywide infected nurses with pandemic is 435 including 168 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 140 from Punjab, 67 from Sindh, 51 from Islamabad, four from Balochistan, three from Azad Jammu and Kashmir and two from Gilgit-Baltistan.

The number of paramedics and Class-IV employees, who have contracted the infection from Covid-19 patients, is 928 in the country including 393 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 212 from Punjab, 123 from Sindh, 84 from Islamabad, 61 from Balochistan, 44 Gilgit-Baltistan and 11 from Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

The report said that 1,820 of the infected health professionals were home quarantined, 241 were in hospitals and 235 of them were in stable condition while seven were on ventilation in critical condition.

It said that 1,233 persons have been recovered from the pandemic and sent home from the hospitals.

Our correspondent from Khar adds : MPA Anwarzeb Khan tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday.

In a statement, the MPA said that his test for coronavirus was declared positive a day after his sample was taken at a private hospital in Peshawar. He said that he isolated himself at his house. He added that he was in stable condition.

Our correspondent from Lakki Marwat adds: Two officials affiliated with Polio Eradication Initiative (PEWI) were quarantined at their homes after they tested positive for coronavirus.

Dr Hidayatullah Khan, focal person for coronavirus in the district, said on Wednesday that Dr Mohammad Yousaf and district health communication support officer Samiullah Khan tested positive for the virus.

“Both the officials have isolated themselves at their homes,” he said.

Published in Dawn, June 11th, 2020