COVID-19 claims another life in KP

PESHAWAR: The coronavirus on Tuesday claimed another life in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and infected 140 more people, the highest number of people diagnosed with the viral infection since the second wave of the infectious disease.

With the latest human loss, death toll from the infectious disease climbed to 1281 and the number of positive cases to 39,889 in the province. The patient who died of coronavirus belonged to Haripur district. Of the 140 positive cases, 35 of them were reported from Peshawar, where the total number of infected people has risen to 14842, the highest number of positive reported from any district in the province.

Peshawar has also lost 605 lives as a result of coronavirus. The two mountainous and underdeveloped districts- Chitral Upper and Chitral Lower - are also in trouble these days as both the districts are constantly reporting positive cases. Chitral Upper is the second most affected district after Peshawar in terms of constantly reporting positive cases in the second wave, where 21 people tested positive for COVID-19. Chitral Lower reported 18 positive cases, Orakzai 15, Kohat 13 and Karak 10. Other places including Swat, Charsadda, Nowshera, Mohmand, Swabi, Buner, Dir Upper, Malakand, Bajaur, Mansehra, Abbottabad, and Lakki Marwat also reported positive cases. It seems the virus has transmitted to all parts of the province. According to a noted physician and an expert of coronavirus, Prof Dr Syed Amjad Taqweem, there were certain cases of re-infection in the second wave of Covid-19 in the province.

Except Peshawar, where the local administration has continuously been raiding business and commercial centres and harassing traders by imposing heavy fines on them, the government officials in rest of the province are yet to ensure implementation of standard operating procedures (SOPs).