Covid positivity rate surges in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: Eleven persons died of coronavirus and 410 new cases were reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Thursday as positivity rate in Peshawar swelled to 10.6 per cent.

Peshawar accounted for six mortalities and 196 new cases in the province, taking its total count of deaths and confirmed incidence to 703 and 19,607 respectively. One case was reported each from Nowshera, Swabi, Mansehra, Abbottabad and Dera Ismail Khan.

Dir Lower recorded 33 cases, taking its total score of patients to 2008. So far, 43 persons have fallen to the virus in the district. Khyber tribal district detected 30 patients which made its overall count of patients 1,049.

In Abbottabad, 17 people were diagnosed with the pandemic where number of total cases reached 2,742. The district has so far recorded 108 deaths due to the virus and is listed second on the province’s list of mortalities after Peshawar.

Swat, another endemic district, reported 15 cases. The district has already reported 104 mortalities from Covid-19 and is third after Peshawar and Abbottabad as far as deaths of people from the virus is concerned.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa also reported 496 recoveries from the infectious ailment which took the number of recovered people to 45,128. The number of active cases at present in the province stands at 4,593.

Meanwhile, district administration in Peshawar continues to impose fines on the people and seal restaurants for violating standard operating procedure for Covid-19. A press release issued from deputy commissioner office said that 227 commuters were penalised for not wearing face masks in BRT buses.

Four markets were sealed on Ashraf Road while a total of 1,800 shops were sealed. It said that 1,200 owners of vehicles were also penalised for violating the precautionary measures. It said that six banks were also sealed.