COVID infections rate increases threefold after Eid: Azra Pechuho

KARACHI: Sindh Minister for Health Dr. Azra Pechuho Wednesday said that after the Eid holidays, the rate of coronavirus infections increased by threefold.

The minister was giving details of COVID infection patterns from last year to NCOC meeting which she attended via zoom link here. Secretary Health Dr. Kazim Jatoi and Deputy Secretary Dr. Mansoor Wassan were also present.

The minister said that she expects this pattern to hold this year as well, however the baseline is much higher this time around and so the numbers will be significantly larger.

Due to people travelling back and forth for Eid Holidays, the risk of spreading infections is already considerable and we will see covid positive cases rising.

In regards to the relaxing of SOPs, Dr. Azra Pechuho stated that allowing 70% occupancy in railway carriages should be reconsidered and that Sindh would urge railway operations to be curtailed for at least next 7 to 10 days and the situation should be reviewed again thereafter.

The minister also observed that there have been over 25 Covid positive cases confirmed through airline travel and that Sindh Health department will be conducting genomic sequence studies on the samples found to determine which variants are found.

International travel is exacerbating and spread of infections and that we have to be more stringent at airports with rapid antigen testing as well as PCR. It is also probably that international travelers may not exhibit symptoms till a week-10 days after landing and would be spreading the virus within their communities as quarantine on international travelers is not being implemented.

The minister concluded that NPI’s should be maintained and not doing so will make things worse in regards to COVID.