KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that Coronavirus cases were increasing in the province which might be the result of major events such as Eids, Ashura, Chelum and opening of all business and educational activities.
"We can contain spikes in the cases through strict implementation of SOPs, otherwise it would hit new highs in the country."
This he said while participating, through video link, in the 17th National Coordination Committee meeting held under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday. The others present in the video link were Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho, Chief Secretary Mumtaz Shah, IG Sindh Mushtaq Maher, ACS Home Usman Chachar, Commissioner Karachi Sohail Rajput, PSCM Sajid Jamal Abro, Secretary Health Kazim Jatoi, Dr Bari and other concerned.
Briefing the meeting the chief minister said that as per record of October 11, Karachi division has 2742 actives cases, Hyderabad 462, Larkana 108, Sukkur 129, Shaheed Benazirabad 130, Mirpurkhas 182 cases and 954 were yet to be ascertained.
Given the ratio of the last five days, Murad Ali Shah said that 4.3 percent cases were detected from Karachi division, 3.24 percent Hyderabad and 1.73 percent from other districts of the province.
The chief minister said that Sindh has conducted over 1.46 million tests which were the highest in the country. Punjab has conducted 1.37 million tests, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 407,304, Balochistan 112,580, Islamabad 407,479, AJK 52,317 and Gilgit 37,304. He added that the testing capacity in Sindh has been enhanced to 20,000 per day in the province.
Talking about SOPs violations, the CM said that in Karachi 341 marriage halls were inspected, of them 97 were found delinquent, 77 issued warning letters and five of them fined while 123 were sealed.
Murad Ali Shah said that SOP in 1045 restaurants was checked and 577 were found failed in implementation, therefore 577 were issued warnings and 30 of them fined and 224 sealed. He added that 75 educational institutions were checked, of the 31 were found failed in implementing SOPs, therefore 27 of them were warned and four sealed.
Talking about shops/factories, the CM said that 173 were inspected, of them 114 were found negligent in implementing SOPs, therefore 60 of them were issued warning letters, 13 fined and 29 were sealed.
The chief minister said that implementation of SOPs was the only way to stay safe, otherwise, the virus would spread again.
Current situation: Shah said that 10,241 tests were conducted overnight against which 240 cases were detected which constituted 2.3 percent detection rate. He added that so far 1,483,336 tests have been conducted all over Sindh which diagnosed 140,534 cases, of them 95 percent or 133,192 have recovered, including 259 overnight.
The CM said that currently 4,786 patients were under treatment, of them 4,466 were in home isolation, six at isolation centres and 314 at different hospitals. He added that the condition of 190 patients was stated to be critical, of them 24 have been shifted to ventilators.
According to the statement one more patient lost his life lifting the death toll to 2556 that came to 1.8 percent death rate.
The chief minister said that out of 240 new cases, 168 have been detected from Karachi, including 57 each from East and South, 17 Central, West eight and Malir six. He added that Hyderabad has 12 cases, Dadu nine, Sukkur five, Ghotki and Jamshoro three each, Badin, Tando Allahyar, Thatta, Mirpurkhas and Naushehroferoze two each, Shaheed Benazirabad, Shikarpur and Tando Mohammad Khan one each.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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