PESHAWAR: Another death from novel coronavirus has been confirmed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after which the death toll in the province has mounted to 17 and the number of infected persons now stands at 500.

This was shared by KP Health Minister Taimur Khan Jhagra on his social media account. The minister shared that out of the 500 people that have tested positive for the disease, 138 are hospitalised and three of them are in critical condition. He added that 69 people have recovered from the disease in the province so far.

Taimur Jhagra said 85 new cases were reported in KP during the last 24 hours, while another 10 patients have been added to previously reported data.

Amid the bad news coming from all sides, the health minister also shared a relatively good news on Twitter saying that out of 416 pilgrims who have returned from Iran, 294 have already been released after their tests came back as negative. He said the test results of 54 other Zaireen (pilgrims) are awaited. He further shared that 16 of the 64 positive patients have already recovered.

More mobility, more cases

Taimur Jhagra said that the areas in KP with high population mobility are more affected from coronavirus, while the areas with less population mobility are relatively safer.

“Because of the high mobility of KP labour, across the country and abroad, all districts bar 5 now have at least one reported case; Chitral (upper and lower, reported as Chitral), Upper Kohistan, Lower Kohistan, and Kolai Palas remain districts with zero cases reported,” he said on Twitter.

He added that the districts where no cases are reported are relatively remote, with low population densities.

“In contrast, Peshawar and Mardan now both have over 100+ cases, with double digit cases in Kohat, Swat, Dir (upper and lower), Nowshera, Mansehra, Buner and Abbottabad,” he said.

Tableeghi Jamaat members being sent back

Adviser to CM on Information Ajmal Wazir has stated that there are currently around 5,000 Tableeghi Jamaat members in the province and 30 percent are from KP.

He said all facilities are being provided to Tableeghi Jamaat members who have tested positive for COVID-19.

“They will all be tested before being sent to their respective provinces,” he said.