KP Minister for Health Taimur Saleem Jhagra has said that the provincial government has for the first time surpassed the coronavirus testing capacity of 500 at Khyber Medical University lab.

He said the government was striving to further enhance the coronavirus testing capacity to 10,000 a day, adding that soon the target of 2,000 coronavirus testing capacity would be achieved.

Expressing gratitude to teams of professionals at KMU lab, he said "Our flagship lab at KMU conducted record tests. Thank you to the team. As promised, we are working to expand government capacity to over 2,000 as soon as possible."

Giving update of Covid-19 cases in the province, he said till April 13 late night with 56 new cases the tally climbed to 800 within KP. So far 35 deaths took place including one new reported within last 24 hours from Abbottabad, adding that until now as many as 153 patients had recovered and discharged.

He said that 31 new cases were confirmed from Peshawar, three from Swat, two from Malakand, nine from Kurram, three from Kohat, five from Charsadda and one each from Abbottabad Mohmand and Nowshera during the last 24 hours.

The total suspected cases in the KP at present were 1,558, the minister said, and added that 2,425 so far tested negatives out of a total 4783 tests conducted.