–427 more coronavirus cases diagnosed in Sindh, says CM
KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Syed Murad Ali Shah has ordered concerned authorities to conduct a community surveillance study under which seroprevalence studies in two union councils (UC) of Karachi in order to assess the impact of COVID-19.
This was disclosed in a statement issued from the CM House on Saturday.
The CM said that 380 telemedicine doctors have been deputed to follow up with patients who have recovered from the coronavirus infection, adding that he has also directed his team to develop a Digital Assessment App as community surveillance was the need of the hour.
About conducting seroprevalence studies in two union councils of the port city, Shah said that the pilot study would be conducted in UC Kharadar and UC Kehkashan of District South.
It may be noted that seroprevalence is the number of persons in a population who tested positive for COVID-19 based on serology specimen; often presented as a per cent of total specimens tested or as proportion per 100,000 persons tested.
Disclosing the update report of coronavirus in the province, Shah said that 427 new cases emerged in Sindh on Saturday, taking the tally of patients to 7,102 in the province whereas 46 patients have been cured, taking the number of recovered patients to 1,341 or 19 per cent of the total patients so far.
The CM said that the new cases emerged out of 3,259 new tests. “The health department has tested 61,020 tests so far, out of which 11.6 per cent or 7,102 patients were diagnosed as positive carriers of the virus,” he added.
“However, four more patients died on Saturday, taking the death toll to 122 or 1.7 per cent of the total patients while 45 patients are in critical condition, of them, 18 have been put on ventilators,” he further added.
Sharing the data of the 5,639 under treatment patients, Shah said that 4,390 were in home isolation, 733 at Isolation Centres and 516 in hospitals.
It is pertinent to mention here that Karachi has once again established itself as the worst affected city in Sindh as 376 out of the 427 new cases are from the mega city, proving that citizens are flouting lockdown orders at the risk of their lives and a prolonged battle against the global pandemic.
“This shows that the number of new cases is not dropping in the city. People who understand the situation must take precautionary measures,” he warned, adding that children and women were also getting infected due to local transmissions which would be avoidable if the men were more cautious.
“Besides Karachi, 131 new cases have been diagnosed in District South, 65 East, 54 Korangi, 47 West, 46 Central and 33 Malir. “Now we have 1401 cases in South, 1080 East, 501 Korangi, 484 Malir 572 in West,” he said.
Similarly, he told that four new cases have been diagnosed in Ghotki, six in Hyderabad, six in Larkana, six in Shaheed Benazirabad, four in Khairpur, five in Sukkur, two in Sanghar, one each in Thatta and Sujawal.
The chief minister once again urged the people of the province to observe SOPs, ensure social distancing.
“This is a new way of life and we have to adopt it if we wish to survive,” he concluded.
