Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that 320 new cases of coronavirus have been diagnosed in the province, of them 308 are of local spread- the highest ever witnessed in the province, and the worst affected is Karachi with over 1300 cases of local transmission.
In his video message, the chief minister said that 320 new cases were diagnosed on Wednesday when 2097 tests were conducted. The tests conducted so far come to 30346 against which 3373 cases have been detected, he calculated.
Mr Shah said that in terms of local spread of COVID-19 Karachi was worst affected. He added that during the last 24 hours 320 new cases have been diagnosed in the province, out of which 308 were of local spread. “It means the local spread turns to be 15.2 percent of the diagnosed cases,” he said.
He said that with new three the deaths, the death toll has reached to 69 which was 2 percent of the total patients. He added that at present 2589 patients were under treatment, and of them 1579 were in home isolation, 613 at isolation Centre and 379 in different hospitals. “Today 50 patients recovered and returned to their homes – the recovery percentage of the corona patients comes to 69 percent,” he said.
The chief minister said that with the addition to 320 new of cases of Sindh, the tally has risen to 10,069 in the country. “This is not an ordinary situation and we will have to handle it with extra care and attention,” he said.
Disclosing situation in Karachi, the chief minister said that the worst affected was district South where 578 cases, including 79 new cases have been detected. Almost all the cases were of local spread.
In East out of 468 cases, 20 are of Tablighi Jamaat members and 448 of local spread, the chief minister said and added 42 new cases had emerged on Wednesday.
Murad Ali Shah said that in West district 48 new cases emerged and the number of total cases has reached to 259, of them one was of Tablighi Jamaat while 258 were of local spread.
Talking about Korangi, the chief minister said that 16 new cases were detected and the number of total cases has reached to 179 and almost all the cases were of local spread. He said that 15 new cases emerged on Wednesday lifting the tall to 155, from them eight were of Tablighi Jamaat and 147 were of local spread.
In Central the number of cases is 406, including 25 new. Almost all the cases are of local transmission.
The chief minister said that in Hyderabad the number of cases has reached to 229 with 19 new cases. “Out of 229 cases 158 cases are of Tablighi Jamaat and 71 are of local spread,” he said and added “this is quite serious and worrisome and the result of non-compliance of SOPs and social distancing,” he said.
Mr Shah said that Larkana has also started producing local transmission cases. “The district has 65 cases, of them 42 are of Tablighi Jamaat people and 23 are of local spread,” Murad Ali Shah said.
Sukkur has 356 cases, of them 273 are of pilgrims and 76 of Tablighi Jamaat and seven are of local transmission, the chief minister said and added the pilgrims were kept in isolation at labour colony but the defiance of expert advises and refusal to observe lockdown resulted in local spread.
“Now this becomes the responsibility of the people, particularly the heads of the families, religious scholars and other compelling personalities to guide the people to observe strict precautionary measures and social distancing, otherwise its further spread in thickly populated urban areas and rural areas will play the havoc equally,” he warned.
The chief minister said that the precautionary measures were like an umbrella which protects the people from rain water. “Similarly, if you adopt precautionary measures even if the lockdown is eased off you will be able to save yourself from the infection,” he said and added the new way of life was purely health oriented. “Everyone has to adopt it in his life and they have to teach to their children and family members,” he concluded.