Karachi, April 26, 2020 (PPI-OT): Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said on Sunday that 383 new cases of coronavirus had been detected during the last 24 hours in the Sindh province, which was the first highest figures of last 61 days of coronavirus cases since February 26 to April 26.
In his video message, the chief minister disclosed that 3,028 tests were conducted against which 383 new cases, including 301 cases in Karachi, were detected which constituted 12 percent of the tests. “This is the highest figure ever reported during the 61 days COVID-19 emergency,” he said and added: “This shows the situation is going from bad to worse and we would have to take some extraordinary measures.”
He said that so far, 4,1216 tests had been conducted against which 4,615 cases or 11.2 percent had been diagnosed as coronavirus positive. Shah also said that three more patients died due to coronavirus infection and lifted the death toll to 81 or 1.8 percent of the total patients. He added that at present, 3,662 patients were under treatment, of them, 2,432 are in home isolation, 767 at isolation centers and 463 in different hospitals.
The chief minister said that 41 patients were in critical condition and 12 of them were on ventilators. “The doctors were struggling to save their lives,” he said. He added that 70 patients had recovered and were discharge for their homes. “Our 872 or 18.9 percent patients have recovered so far,” he said. Karachi: The Sindh chief minister said that Karachi was the worst affected division of the province with 301 new cases.
He added that Central had 594 cases with 99 new, district East has 676 cases including 66 new, Korangi has 318 cases with 26 new cases, Malir has 272 cases with 10 new, South has 895 cases with 80 cases and West has 322 cases with 20 new cases. He said that the province of Sindh had 4,615 cases, of them, 3,077 were in Karachi. “This is a serious situation,” he said and added he would have to establish more field hospitals/isolation centers.
Two flights land: Shah said that that two more flights from Malaysia and Dubai had landed in Karachi. He added that both the flights had brought 505 stranded Pakistanis and all of them had been kept in quarantine. He said that the health department had started collecting their samples to test them and by Monday, their results would come out.
Another meeting: The chief minister just after going through the coronavirus situation report, he called another meeting of health department which was attended by provincial ministers, chief secretary, commissioner Karachi and deputy commissioners.
The chief minister said that the number of new patients was increasing day by day, therefore, the government would have to enhance bed capacity of isolation Centers by enhancing the capacity of the exiting field offices and establishing new centers. Shah directed Commissioner Karachi to prepare a plan to enhance the capacity of Expo Center Field Hospital from 12:00 noon to 15:00 pm. He also issued a directive for setting up isolation center at PAF Museum Convention Center, Dalmia ground, Darul Ehsaas Manghopir and other areas.
The chief minister assigned the task of exploring other empty buildings and ground to Chairman P and D Mohammad Waseem where isolation centers/field hospitals could be established. He said that the target set for setting up of 10,000-bedded facilities should be achieved. He also directed the chief to keep reviewing the requirement of doctors and paramedical staff for the proposed facilities.
Video-link meeting: Presiding over a meeting of divisions and districts, other than Karachi he reviewed the sampling methods, availability of testing kits and directed them to start extensive testing. The chief minister said that 17 cases had been detected in Sukkur, seven in Hyderabad, two each in Khairpur, Thatta Badin, Matiari, Mirpurkhas and, one each in Dadu, Jamshoro, Mirpurkhas, and Larkana. Shah directed Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho to send special teams of lab experts to visit each and every district to guide them for collecting samples. The chief minister directed all the deputy commissioners to improve their health facilities and encourage people to adopt social distancing in their respective areas.
For more information, contact:
Press Secretary,
Chief Minister House, Sindh
Tel: +92-21-99202019(Ext: 336)
Website: www.cmsindh.gov.pk