PESHAWAR: Another doctor in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa lost his life to coronavirus as the fourth wave of the pandemic has intensified in the province and rest of the country.
According to Provincial Doctors Association (PDA), Dr Ihsanul Haq, Deputy Director Medical Services, Pathology, Ayub Medical Complex Abbottabad, who was suffering from coronavirus infection, died on Friday night. He was admitted to corona ward of Ayub Medical Complex for the last three days.
With another death, the death toll of doctors from the virus in KP has mounted to 69. The funeral of Dr Ihsanul Haq was to be offered on Saturday in his ancestral village.
The PDA says the government has not given martyrs package to deceased health workers and none has got corona risk allowance so far. Doctors and health staff are at increased risk of contracting coronavirus as they come in contact with various infected persons in hospitals.
According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), 166 health workers have lost lives to coronavirus so far in the country including 102 doctors, one medical student, four nurses and 59 paramedics.
During the last 24 hours, 26 healthcare professionals and workers contracted coronavirus in the country. As many as 17,177 healthcare workers have so far been infected with COVID-19, of which 60 percent were doctors, 26 percent were paramedics and only 14 percent were nurses.
In an alarming sign, Pakistan reported 95 deaths from COVID-19 during the last 24 hours, the highest single-day death toll during the fourth wave .
According to the NCOC, Pakistan reported 4,720 new corona infections on Saturday, pushing the total caseload to 1,063,125. The NCOC data showed that 57,233 tests were conducted during the last 24 hours to check for COVID-19.
As many as 959,491 patients have so far recovered, whereas the number of active cases has reached 79,837. The positivity rate in the country stands at 8.24 percent.
The sudden increase in coronavirus cases in the entire country is attributed to lack of precautionary measures by the people. The government repeatedly warns that lack of precaution may lead to a very difficult situation, but these directions are falling of deaf years and very few people are observing precautionary measures.
