KARACHI: Noting that local transmission is the main reason behind 25 per cent coronavirus cases in Sindh, Chief Minister (CM) Syed Murad Ali Shah has decided to establish 14 Critical Care Units (CCUs) all over Sindh, including one in Karachi, equipped with ventilators, monitors, pulse oximeters, suction machines, defibrillator and other gadgets.
Presiding over 31stmeeting of Task Force on Corona here at the CM House, he said that one CCU with 100-200 ventilator attached beds in the megacity, and 13 CCUs with 600 vent beds, in different districts of the province would be established.
He directed the health secretary to provide these centers 850 medical officers, 1320 nurses, ICU technicians and auxiliary staff.
The meeting was told that in the province 45 hospitals have COVID-19 Isolation case management facilities. These 45 hospitals have 505 beds where 294 patients have been admitted and 291 were clinically stable and 14 of them have already recovered and released.
The meeting was further told that there are 469 cases of Coronavirus in Sindh. These include 189 cases of Karachi, seven of Larkana, one of Dadu, seven of Hyderabad and 162 of Sukkur (151 of Sukkur phase-I and 114 of Sukkur phase-II).
A total of 5,322 tests have been conducted so far, of them 4,835 have come out negative while 469 are positive.
The chief minister said that in Karachi 12 new cases have emerged on Saturday while on March 27 the number of new cases was 17. 63 patients of the megacity had travel history. One of them came from Italy, eight from Syria, six from Dubai, six from Iran, one from Qatar, seven from Saudi Arabia, six from Turkey, five from the US, two from Switzerland, 11 from the UK and one from Iraq.
150 patients are in isolation at their homes, 14 are cured, one has already died and the remaining 20 are under treatment in the different hospitals of the city.
According to the daily report submitted by government hospitals, 53 out of 1,874 patients who were diagnosed as suspects of pneumonia were tested at government hospitals, while private hospitals submitted a list of 702 such patients among whom 26 were tested.
IG Police Mushtaq Maher told the meeting that the police mobiles have started patrolling in their respective areas from 4 pm so that shopkeepers stop activities at 5 pm.
