KARACHI: The number of coronavirus cases and deaths from the deadly infection, as well as the tally of recoveries, are all on the rise, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said Friday.
In a statement issued Friday from the CM House, Shah said 535 coronavirus patients recovered, 817 new cases emerged, and another 12 individuals succumbed to COVID-19, taking Sindh’s total death toll to 255.
“The situation seems to be critical in the sense that not only the recovery of patients was increasing but the ratio of new patients and death ratio was also on the increase,” he added.
Analysing the situation of coronavirus, the CM noted that for the first time, the recovery rate in the province has jumped from 22% to 24% when 533 patients were cured and discharged. Simultaneously, the number of new patients due to local transmission — which was 758 as of Thursday — shot to 817 on Friday.
“The increase in new cases depends on the number of tests… when the number of tests is increased, the number of new patients shows an upsurge in the cases,” he said. “It shows that the infected people exist and they keep infecting others; therefore, the number of patients keep multiplying every day.”
Speaking of the deaths, Shah said 75 people died of the novel coronavirus during May 9-14. “This shows that on average more than 12 patients lose their lives every day — this is not a good sign and needs to be controlled through self-protection and administrative measures,” he said.
Similarly, he said, by Friday morning, 535 patients had recovered and discharged but 817 new patients were admitted. The CM explained that the additional cases had built up “the pressure on our health system, which should have been decreased with the discharge of 535”.
“We [now] have to arrange another 282 beds to accommodate 817 new patients,” he said.
Shah said doctors were frequently looking after the patients in self-isolation and, in case of emergency, the individuals may be shifted to the hospital.
“My strategy is to contain the virus by isolating the patients and stop its further spread by implementing social distancing and other SOPs,” he said, adding that it would be possible when people would cooperate and understand the situation.
Some 9,651 (87%) of the 11,055 people being treated were in self-isolation, 887 (8%) in isolation centres, and 517 were admitted in different hospitals.
“The figures show that 5% of the total patients are in hospitals. Of them, 107 (21%) are in critical condition, while 35 have been put on ventilators,” he said.
Karachi break-down
According to the CM’s statement, 567 of the 817 new cases were from Karachi; 139, 125, 115, 102, 52, and 34 were in the East, Central, South, Malir, West, and Korangi districts.
As of reporting time, there were 2,470, 2,324, 1,925, 1,508, 1,289, and 982 cases in the South, East, Central, Malir, West, and Korangi districts.
As for other districts, Shah said 57 cases were detected in Larkana, 23 in Sukkur, 22 in Khairpur, 19 in Kambar-Shahdadkot, 16 in Ghotki, 12 in Sanghar, 11 in Hyderabad, seven Jacobabad, three each in Jamshoro, Shaheed Benazirabad, and Shikarpur, and one in Tando Allahyar.
The chief minister also underlined that following eight suspected coronavirus deaths in a neighbourhood in Larkana, the deceased’s contacts were traced, 122 samples obtained, and 35 diagnosed as positive.
“We are tracing more contacts [of the dead and the newly-infected] so that they could be tested,” he said.
In Pir Jo Goth, 47 of the 291 samples obtained were diagnosed as positive.
Shah urged the people in Sindh to be responsible with regard to the standard operating procedures (SOPs) and other guidelines from experts and the World Health Organization; otherwise, it would be difficult to defeat the coronavirus pandemic.
