The sampling of 250 positive Covid-19 patients for repeat tests continued in Khairpur district today under the Sindh chief minister's directives in the backdrop of a controversy that started over a contradiction in two test reports of MPA Rashid Shah Rashidi.

“The repeat tests will be done in a Karachi-based private laboratory as per government directives,” said DHO Dr Mohammad Hussain Abro.

GDA MPA Rashidi, the son of Pir Sibghatullah Shah Rashidi, the sitting Pir Pagara, was among the 250 people who had tested positive in Pir Jo Goth earlier this month. But he had gotten his test done privately at the Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS), a public-sector university in Karachi. His second test report returned negative.

“This led to a political controversy over the veracity of test reports of government laboratories, forcing the Sindh chief minister to order the re-testing of 265 people of Pir Jo Goth,” said a Sindh government officer who also monitors the Covid-19 situation in Sindh.