Tariq Saeed
Peshawar
With the tally of COVID-19 positive cases crossing 22000 and well over 800 deaths reported till date, the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has decided to seal 240 areas across the province in an effort to contain the further spread of deadly virus.
Hence, nearly 537,010 people will be under lockdown in these 240 areas of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. A report sent to the KP chief secretary on Monday says that “smart lockdown” has been imposed in 240 areas to curb the spread of the virus as the number of cases in the COVID-19 hotspots rise to 2,305.
Alone in the Malakand division, 137 affected areas have been put under a “smart lockdown” while in Bannu, nine areas are under the stringent measures to stop the spread of the disease while in the provincial metropolis Peshawar, around 34 areas are observing the lockdown measures. In Dera Ismail Khan and Hazara division, seven and 25 areas are under “smart lockdown”, respectively, while in Kohat and Mardan, 15 and 13 areas are observing “smart lockdown”. The report said.
Areas identified in Swat include Bahrain, Matta, Babuzai, Kabal, Barikot, Khariri, Gwalerai and Odigram. Other tehsils identified by the KP Health Department include UC Qambar, Saidu Shareef, Barikot Gharbi, Quetta Sharki, Kozabandi and Madain.
More than 489 people have been infected in these areas, the provincial health department said. After receiving the report, the chief secretary urged the people to cooperate with the administration during this time.
Adviser to Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) on Information Ajmal Wazir said on Monday that the smart lockdown strategy would prove successful to deal with the pandemic. “We have so far conducted 124,000 coronavirus tests in the province out of which 3,416 tests were performed during the past 24 hours”. Ajmal said while briefing media at Civil Secretariat Peshawar on Monday. He said that the Pak-Afghan border was made operational by the incumbent federal government to resume trade activities in testing times during COVID-19 pandemic.
“Millions of people are associated with trade activities on both sides of the border,” he said adding that the prime minister allowed resuming activities at the border keeping in view the difficulties faced by the Afghan people. Ajmal Wazir said that complete SOPs would be followed at Ghulam Khan and Torkham border crossings and one day at them is specified for passengers traveling on foot. He said that Torkham border in district Khyber and Ghulam khan border in North Waziristan will remain open 24 hours for 6 days a week for heavy traffic of Afghan transit and bilateral trade. He said that trade between the two countries would create employment for millions of people and the resumption of trade activities would also strengthen ties between the two countries.
Giving updates on the Corona Virus situation said that corona patients were being treated in 241 hospitals in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where more than 5500 beds were reserved for them. He said that the number of oxygen beds in the province was 1375 and 343 ventilators were specified for corona patients out of which only 77 patients were being treated on ventilators.
