19 cases of Omicron detected in Peshawar district

CM Mahmood Khan orders acceleration of vaccination drive

PESHAWAR:

A total of 22 Omicron cases have been reported in the province out of them 19 cases were detected in Peshawar district alone. However, none of them was under treatment in the hospitals in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).

This was disclosed at a high level meeting on Tuesday.

It was revealed in the meeting that Peshawar was among the worst pandemic-hit districts in the province.

The meeting to review the latest situation of Covid-19 in the province was held with Chief Minister Mahmood Khan in the chair.

Provincial Minister for Health Taimur Saleem Jhagra, Chief Secretary Dr Shehzad Bangash and high-ups of health department attended the meeting. The forum discussed and reviewed in detail the latest situation of Covid-19 in the province with special focus on the Omicron variant.

Participants of the meeting were briefed about the measures taken by the health department to deal with Omicron, capacity of hospitals, progress so far made regarding Covid vaccination and other related matters. The forum was informed that a total of 22 Omicron cases have been reported in the province out of which 19 cases were detected in Peshawar, however, none of them was under treatment in the hospitals.

It was revealed that overall Covid-19 situation in the province remained under control as positivity rate ranged between 0.3 per cent to 0.6 per cent during the last two weeks. It was further informed that at present 10,000 tests of Covid-19 on daily basis were being conducted in the province and sufficient capacity was available in hospitals across K-P including 1,785 Low flow oxygen beds, 1,380 high dependency unit (HDU) beds, 339 ICU beds and 339 ventilators for Covid patients.

Briefing about the progress regarding vaccination, it was revealed that a total of 23,503,287 doses have been administered whereas 10,326,509 individuals were fully vaccinated. Similarly, around 9.1 million second doses of vaccine were administered in the province. So far, K-P has managed to vaccinate 60 per cent of its (12 years and above) population. The meeting was informed that multiple steps have been taken by the health department to improve vaccination in the province, adding that regular meetings with district administrations and DHOs were being conducted to review progress and district performance with regard to Covid vaccination.

The chief minister on the occasion directed the health department to further expedite the pace of vaccination with special focus on the adjacent areas of provincial capital Peshawar. He also directed them to chalk out a realistic plan to achieve the cent per cent targets of vaccination against Covid-19 in the province.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12^th, 2022.