COVID-19 pandemic and its prevalence in northern areas of Pakistan
Keywords:
COVID-19, SARS Cov-2, prevalence, SOPs, Malakand, PCRAbstract
Objectives: This study aimed to find the prevalence of COVID-19 in Northern Areas of Pakistan. This research will help researchers better understand the outbreak's tendencies and provide an estimate of the region's epidemiological stage. Material & Methods: This Cross-sectional retrospective study was conducted at Anwar Hospital, Anwar Clinical Laboratory, Saidu Sharif Swat (KP) Pakistan. Samples of all suspected COVID-19 patients who come for COVID-19 screening were included from March 2020 to 18 September 2021. COVID-19 screening was done using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). Results: A sample of 2537 suspected COVID-19 patients were screened in this study. A total of 970 cases were positive and 1567 were negative by PCR. The prevalence of COVID-19 was 38.23%. All participants ages ranged from 9 to 70 years. Conclusion: As indicated by this study the prevalence of COVID-19 is high due to lack of awareness regarding SARS-CoV-2 infection transmission among the general population of Malakand division. Lack of SOPs compliance is the second reason for the high prevalence of COVID-19.
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