PESHAWAR: The death toll from COVID-19 in Peshawar has mounted to 125, the second highest in the country after Karachi.

KP has so far reported 203 deaths from COVID-19, including 125 deaths in Peshawar. Out of 1,471 cases reported in Peshawar so far, only 78 have recovered. In the provincial metropolis, the ratio of deaths from coronavirus is 8.5 percent, while ratio of recoveries is at 5.3 percent.

On Wednesday, 213 new cases were confirmed in KP, taking the tally to 3,712. Nine new deaths were also confirmed in the province. On Wednesday, six deaths were reported from Peshawar and one each from Mardan, Swabi and Malakand. As many as 64 patients recovered from the virus during the last 24 hours. So far, 939 patients have recovered in KP. Active cases stand at 2,570.

KP is the province with highest deaths in Pakistan and Peshawar the second most affected city. KP Health Minister Taimur Khan Jhagra said KP is making authentic reporting about the COVID-19 cases under the guidelines of the World Health Organisation (WHO). He claimed that other provinces are not making authentic reporting about coronavirus cases.

The minister said hospitals of Peshawar are under heavy burden of patients from other districts of KP that is why the death ratio in the metropolis is higher.

Meanwhile, KP focal person for COVID-19 Zain Raza has tested negative for coronavirus.

“Found out yesterday I spent a good hour or more last week in a meeting, in closed room, with someone who tested positive 2 days after our meeting. I didn’t have usual symptoms but had a lot of sneezing and runny nose so got tested yesterday. It came back negative AlhamduLillah,” Zain Raza said in a tweet.

Countrywide death toll reaches 563

Overall, 40 deaths and 1049 new confirmed cases were reported in Pakistan during the past 24 hours.

The death toll stands at 563, including 203 deaths in KP, 175 in Punjab, 157 in Sindh, 21 in Balochistan, three in Gilgit-Baltistan and four in Islamabad Capital Territory.

The total confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Pakistan have mounted to 24,041.

Of these, 8,640 have been reported in Sindh, 9,077 in Punjab, 3,712 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 1,663 in Balochistan, 485 in Islamabad Capital Territory 388 in Gilgit-Baltistan, and 76 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

As many as 6,217 patients have recovered from the virus in Pakistan.