Pakistan's coronavirus positivity rate below 2pc
Pakistan reported a coronavirus positivity rate of less than 2% for the ninth consecutive day, govt data showed Sunday morning.
According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), 43,522 COVID-19 tests were conducted across the country in the last 24 hours, of which 591 returned positive. The country has mostly recorded less than 7,00 daily infections all of this week.
Per the official portal, the rate of positive cases during the last 24 hours was 1.35%. Since October 16, Pakistan's positivity rate has been under 2%.The number of deaths from COVID-19 in the country has risen to 28,377 after 18 people died from the virus, while the total number of cases has reached 1,268,536.
The number of active cases, too, is continuing on its downward trend and was recorded at 23,917 Sunday. Earlier this week, active cases in Pakistan dropped below the 25,000 mark after more than seven months, while daily coronavirus infections fell to their lowest level in a year.
COVID-19 infections are decreasing in Pakistan, with 611 new infections reported on average each day. That's 10% of the peak - the highest daily average reported on June 17. Pakistan has administered at least 99,335,067 doses of COVID vaccines so far. Assuming every person needs 2 doses, that's enough to have vaccinated about 22.9% of the country's population. During the last week reported, Pakistan averaged about 670,981 doses administered each day. At that rate, it will take a further 65 days to administer enough doses for another 10% of the population.
Meanwhile, There is no let-up in the spread of coronavirus and dengue in Peshawar despite their declining incidence in other highrisk districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Five people lost life to Covid-19 and 91 were infected with it in the province on Saturday. Of them, four deaths and 49 cases were reported in the provincial capital. Similarly, the province recorded 156 dengue cases in the day and most of them i.e. 33 belonged to Peshawar.
According to the health department officials, the fifth coronavirus death was reported in Swat district. They told Dawn that after the outbreak of Covid-19 in the province early last year, Peshawar emerged as the 'epicentre' of the virus and recorded most of the cases in the province. The officials said 64,384 of the province's 177,440 recorded Covid-19 patients were Peshawaris.
They said the district also witnessed most deaths from the virus in the province. According to them, 5,713 people have so far died of the virus in the province and 2,734 of them belonged to Peshawar.
The officials said currently, the province had 2,676 active Covid-19 patients and 627 of them were Peshawaris. Also, the district has most recoveries from the virus in the province i.e. 61,023. The doctors attribute high Covid-19 deaths and cases in Peshawar to the presence of main hospitals and testing centres.
A senior physician of the Khyber Teaching Hospital told Dawn that 40 per cent of the coronavirus patients admitted to Peshawar hospitals were not locals. He claimed that the people from other districts preferred treatment in Peshawar.
The physician said the province's all major public and private hospitals were located in Peshawar, which offered free treatment to the patients registered for the Sehat Sahulat Programme, a free healthcare initiative of the provincial government. He also said the provincial capital had most of the 17 Covid-19 testing labs operating in the province and that they carried out 70 per cent of the province's total tests.
"It is wrong to presume that Peshawar is the hotbed of coronavirus as the people from across the province sought investigation and treatment here," he said.
Meanwhile, the directorate-general (health services) said dengue fever, which broke out in the province in March this year, had affected Peshawar residents the most. According to a report compiled by the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response System of the directorate, the province has so far recorded 5,007 cases of dengue fever and 1,772 were from Peshawar.