Two UK travellers test positive for Covid-19 in KP

By INP

PESHAWAR/ISLAMABAD: Two passengers, who recently returned from the UK, have tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), as the country reported 85 deaths and 2,152 new Covid-19 cases during the last 24 hours.

KP Health Secretary Imtiaz Hussain Shah told Geo News that a total of 149 passengers had recently arrived in the province from the UK, of whom the government had traced 44 people and 32 of their contacts. “Another 54 passengers have been identified across seven districts, including Peshawar, Swabi and Nowshera and the district administrations have been tasked to trace them,” he said, adding the government had been unable to trace 46 people because they provided incorrect residential address.

“In the first batch of testing, four people tested negative, while results of 25 passengers are awaited,” the health official said. Shah said the SARS-CoV-2 was detected in two passengers who had been quarantined, adding one of the patients had been identified in Peshawar and the other was in Abbottabad.

He said further tests would be conducted at the National Institute of Health in Islamabad which will determine the nature of the strain. It may be noted here that the Ministry of National Health Services has dismissed rumours that the new strain, identified in the UK, had been detected in Pakistan.

According to the latest figures released by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), the death toll in Pakistan reached 9,753 after the coronavirus claimed 85 more lives during the past 24 hours, while the number of Covid-19 cases totalled to 467,222 following detection of 2,152 new infections.

Sindh has so far reported 208,514 cases; Punjab, 134,345; KP, 56,544; Islamabad, 36,844; Balochistan, 18,028; Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), 8,103 and Gilgit-Baltistan, 4,844.

The country currently has 38,511 active coronavirus cases with the majority of them having been isolated at their homes or other places for having mild symptoms. However, 2,382 of them were in a critical condition and admitted to intensive care units of different hospitals.

About 418,958 people have so far fully recovered from the infection, while 39,435 tests were conducted across the country during the last 24 hours, taking the overall number to 6,482,889.