Enhancement of screening ordered as Covid-19 cases surge.

PESHAWAR -- The healthy department has instructed district health officers to enhance screening of suspected patients after slight surge in Covid-19 incidence in the province.

'The department has also asked people to start wearing face mask following rise in cases during the past two weeks,' officials told this scribe.

According to them, National Command and Operation Centre, Islamabad, has issued recommendations to all the provinces, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan to ensure that people use face masks in tightly enclosed places including healthcare facilities in view of the upward trend in the cases of coronavirus.

On Sunday, 12 new patients were diagnosed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The total number of coronavirus patients in the province has reached 225,280 since the onset of the pandemic in early 2020.

12 new patients diagnosed in KP with none of them on ventilator

A daily situation report released by the health department said that so far 6,376 persons passed away due to Covid-19 in the province while 218,748 recovered from the infectious ailment. There are only 156 active cases in the province, with 108 of them in Peshawar, the epicentre of the virus.

Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has been reporting bulk of coronavirus cases during the past two week due to which the authorities concerned are going to ensure wearing of face mask by people in the city to prevent the infection from spreading among the general population.

'Besides Peshawar, cases are coming from Malakand, especially Swat and Lower Chitral, and Dera Ismail Khan. We have asked the relevant health authorities to ensure that the people use mask,' said officials.

They said that there was no immediate danger of virus in the province as no new variant was reported so far but use of masks was very important to be on the safe side. They said that the province had also vaccinated 65 per cent of its total population. They added that vaccination...