Tariq Saeed Peshawar
With the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Saturday reporting as many as 6,540 new cases of Covid-19 and 12 deaths in the past 24 hours and announcing new COVID-19 protocols for mosques, the fifth way of the fatal Coronavirus called Omicron is also ringing alarm bells in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
An alarming surge has been recorded in the Covid-19 positivity in Peshawar as it has reached 16 per cent per day followed by five per cent in Noshehra and Kohat districts. As per official of the Health Department said that along with the overall positivity ratio there is an increase in the number of Omicron cases too as more than 50 cases are being reported daily.
“Out of the total 75 cases reported from the province during the last twenty four hours, 45 were reported from Peshawar district alone”. an official said adding that from Mardan district seven cases, from Noshehra five cases, Charsadda one, Haripur one, Malakand one, Swabi eight new cases, and from Chitral two new cases have been reported. Of these patients 41 are men and 34 are women aged between 11 to 63 years,” he said, adding that in Abbotabad and Chitral Lower the positivity ratio has been recorded at 5.5 per cent.
The KP Health Minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra has said that the Health Department has been completely alert to deal with the fifth wave of the Covid-19 and all the staff has also been put on alert under the health emergency.
Though he appealed to general public to strictly follow Covid-19 related standard operating procedures (SOPs) for their own safety, the masses appeared to be least pushed about the dangers of the new variant of the COVID-19 as only few would adopt the safety measures. While the administration is yet to implement the new protocols including ban on indoor gatherings and weddings, even 5% people are not seen wearing masks or maintain distance in the public places where great hustle bustle is order of the day with people caring a fig about the Omicron variant.
