Tag: peak

  • Shehroz Kashif summits 8000 meters Manaslu in Nepal

    Pakistani climber, Shehroz Kashif summited 8000 meters Manaslu in Nepal,  the world’s eighth highest peak on Saturday morning.

    Shahrooz Kashif climbed the 8163-meter-high Manaslu peak, the fourth peak of his career.

    Shehroz Kashif has climbed the third consecutive peak in the last five months at an altitude of over 8,000 meters — setting a record of summiting peaks in this young age.

    Shehroz’s father, Kashif Salman, told Geo News that his son is fully fit and he will reach the base camp in two days

    Punjab Sports Minister, Rai Taimur Bhatti, took to Twitter to congratulate Shehroz Kashif for his achievement and lauded him for his bravery at this age.

    Earlier, the 19-year-old mountaineer became the youngest Pakistani to summit Mount Everest.

  • Coronavirus: Pakistan’s secret to ‘flattening the curve’

    According to a report published by The Washington Post on July 19, “Pakistan has flattened its coronavirus curve” as the past several days have seen fewer than 1,500 cases and 40 deaths on an average.

    So far, 5,677 people have succumbed to COVID-19 in Pakistan, which is 2.1% of the total infected population while almost 79% (210,468) patients have recovered.

    The initial estimate of the World Health Organization (WHO) was that the infection fatality rate (IFR) for COVID-19 would be 3.4%, which means that for every hundred cases at three or four people would lose their lives. But as per the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, the IFR has turned out to be much lower — at a mere 0.65%

    READ: Did COVID-19 peak in Pakistan in June?

    Pakistan’s total number of deaths from COVID-19 in June was 2,835. Since the second week of June, an average of 80 to 100 people had been dying on a daily basis and the same trend continued till June 30. The highest single-day death toll was 153 on June 19.

    So far in July, the highest number of deaths was recorded on the fourth day while the daily death toll within the first week stood at around 80. The trend came down to 60 to 70 deaths a day in the second week and the latest trend suggests up to 30 or 40 COVID-19 fatalities a day.

    Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid says that due to the strict quarantine policy of the provincial government, the virus has not spread as expected. She also says most fatalities are of those who are older than 60 years of age or are suffering from certain other diseases.

    READ: Is coronavirus ending in Pakistan?

    The rate of COVID-19 infections and deaths seems to have dropped significantly in Pakistan but it is an open secret that the number of cases and deaths is also being grossly misreported.

    “I am aware of a few cases in which patients with COVID-19 symptoms were never taken to hospitals and in case of death were laid to rest at large funeral gatherings,” said Love for Data Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Syed Tajamul Hussain. He added that the country hadn’t had a mortality census in a while and it was highly likely that cases were being under-reported amid limited testing capacity.

  • Did COVID-19 peak in Pakistan in June?

    Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (PM) on Health Dr Zafar Mirza on July 1 said that the number of coronavirus cases was rapidly increasing by mid-June but the country was now in a better position than it was two weeks ago in the continuing battle against COVID-19.

    “The ratio of confirmed infections has gone down from 22% to 15% while the number of suspected cases has also decreased,” the premier’s aide said in an interview, adding that the rate of fatalities was also lower than before.

    READ: Govt is grossly under-reporting coronavirus deaths and infections: PM’s task force head

    Dr Mirza maintained that the government was to now determine over the next couple of days if Pakistan had passed the peak of the COVID-19 outbreak or was still only heading towards it. “If the situation remains stable in the coming days and the number of coronavirus cases continues to decrease, it would be good news for us.”    

    While the number of coronavirus cases in Pakistan is steadily declining amid selective lockdowns across the country and an increase in the number of recovered patients, it is not necessarily due to a decline in the rate of infections and an alleged lower testing rate could be the actual reason.

    However, according to official numbers, in June, a total of 140,726 confirmed cases of coronavirus were reported in Pakistan with at least 2,804 deaths.

    The second week of the said month proved to be the worst in terms of infections as 40,604 were reported. The third week was the most deadly as at least 856 people lost their lives to the virus.

    The last week of June saw 24,324 infections while the number of fatalities stood at 591 — 40 more than those recorded in the first week of the same month.

    It merits a mention that while PM Imran Khan and some members of his team, including senior doctors and other health experts, seem to believe that the virus peaked in Pakistan, especially in Punjab, during the second week of June and the curve has now started to flatten, Pakistan on Friday overtook Italy to become the 11th worst affected country from COVID-19.