Death toll reaches 209 as six more die of Covid-19.

PESHAWAR/UPPER DIR -- Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's death toll due to Covid-19 reached 209 as six more persons died of the infection on Thursday.

Twenty-one health professionals including 14 in Upper Dir and seven in Peshawar tested positive for coronavirus. Six of them, including a doctor, are employees of Khyber Medical University. About 119 doctors have so far infected with Covid-19 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Sources said that more than 12 staffers of district headquarters hospital in Upper Dir district tested positive for coronavirus. They said that samples of more than 50 healthcare providers had been taken a few days ago. They said that test results of 14 of them were received on Thursday and all of them were positive.

Sources said that the infected healthcare providers in Upper Dir included doctors, paramedics and nurses.

A health department report said that 244 new positive cases were recorded in the province, taking the total count to 3956. Of the new fatalities, four belonged to Peshawar and one each hailed from Mansehra and Malakand. It said that 45 patients also recovered from the ailment, making total count of healed patients 984.

21 health professionals among 244 new cases

Case Fatality Rate (CFR) in KP is 5.28 per cent, the highest in the country so far. CFR in Pakistan is 2.34 per cent. In Peshawar, the CFR is 8.13 per cent, the highest in any city of Pakistan.

On Thursday, six employees, including a doctor of Khyber Medical University (KMU) tested positive for Covid-19. They have been working in Public Health Reference Laboratory, which is testing the Covid-19 samples from all over the province.

Sources said that the Laboratory at KMU operated in three shifts. They said that many people had no experience of laboratory due to which they got infection. More people were being tested for Covid-19, they added.

KMU Vice-chancellor Prof Arshad Javaid, however, said that few of the support staff had contracted the disease of the 70 people working in the laboratory.

'Five staffers have contracted the virus. They have been quarantined and their contacts and family members are being tested,' he told Dawn. He added that the laboratory continued with its routine work.

Meanwhile, another doctor, a specialist of infectious diseases, also tested positive for Covid-19/

Chief Minister Mahmood Khan said in a statement that government would open intra-district transport in consultation with stakeholders and would conditionally open all shops and businesses...

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