A health worker receives a dose of Sinopharm s coronavirus vaccine at a vaccination centre in Peshawar. Reuters/File
PESHAWAR: The health department is struggling to increase coronavirus vaccination rate and ensure the enforcement of smart lockdowns in the province amid the growing detection of Delta, Alpha and Beta strains of the virus, insist officials.
The officials told
Dawn that the health department had sent samples of 50 Covid-19 confirmed cases to the National Institute of Health, Islamabad, for gene sequencing and 16 of them were found to be Delta variant and five Alpha one.
They said the NIH had confirmed eight cases of Alpha, Beta and Delta variants of the virus last month.
PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has ordered closure of schools in eight more districts after spike in the level of Covid-19 incidence.
The decision was made in a meeting of Provincial Task Force on Covid-19 here on Tuesday with Chief Minister Mahmood Khan in the chair, said a statement.
The meeting approved the recommendations of health department to shut down schools in Charsadda, Nowshera, Mardan, Swabi, Kohat, Malakand, Swat and Dir Lower due to rise in the number of Covid-19 cases. It also approved plan to close educational institutors in other areas recording five per cent Covid-19 positivity.
The schools in Peshawar were already closed down by National Command and Operation Centre.