PESHAWAR: Seven more died of Covid-19 and 1,441 new cases were recorded in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as a vaccination campaign was launched in 22 districts of the province.

A report of health department said that the number of fatalities due to coronavirus in the province reached 6,009. It said that the number of cases was 196,348. It said that all the mortalities occurred in Peshawar-based hospitals. It added that 93 per cent of the patients including 796 recorded during the last 24 hours recovered from the pandemic.

The report said that positivity rate of the virus was recorded 44pc in Malakand, 32 pc in Kohat, 25pc in Peshawar, 22pc in Charsadda, 18pc in Mansehra, 16pc in Chitral Lower and 14 pc in Mansehra.

Peshawar, the hardest district, reported 582 new cases. Haripur recorded 144 cases, Kohat 103, Mardan 84, Mansehra 80, Abbottabad 79, Nowshera 61, Swabi 56, Khyber 40, Mohmand 36, Swat 30 and Bannu reported 20 new cases.

A total of 302 patients were admitted to hospitals due to Covid-19 and 12 of them were on ventilators as bed occupancy in the province rose to 10.7pc.

Meanwhile, the director general health services, Dr Niaz Mohammad, in a press release said that the 14-day vaccination campaign was launched during which health workers would immunise 500,000 person every day. Vaccinators will visit door-to-door to administer Covid-19 jabs to the people above 12 years of age.

It said that the campaign was meant to enhance vaccination rate for first dose in the target districts to 90 per cent. The people whose second dose was due would also be vaccinated, it added.

Dr Niaz said that vaccinators in collaboration with communities at the union council level would ensure to achieve the target. He urged people to get inoculated at the earliest.

He said that health department had enough stock of the vaccines, which were administered to the people by trained technicians. He also brushed aside the impression that vaccination entailed reactions and said that the doses were internationally approved and didn’t cause health issues.

He said that a few cases of minor side effects were reported but there was no need to worry. Vaccines ensured safety of the recipients during the fifth wave of the pandemic.

Dr Niaz said that vaccinated people were less prone to the virus than the unvaccinated ones. He said that there was less hospitalisation during the ongoing wave of pandemic because of the vaccination of people.

Published in Dawn, February 2nd, 2022