KARACHI: Chief Minister (CM) Syed Murad Ali Shah said on Friday that 1,150 new cases of the coronavirus were detected by testing 5,103 samples while 27 more patients lost their lives overnight, lifting the death toll to 1,205.

In a statement issued here from the CM House, he said the new cases constituted 22 per cent detection rate. “This is one of the highest rate and we have to control it by following the guidelines issued by experts, the government and the World Health Organisation (WHO),” he said.

The CM said that so far 414,248 samples had been tested which detected 76,318 cases all over Sindh. “This constitutes overall 18.4 per cent detection rate,” he said.

According to the CM, 27 more casualties constituted 1.5pc death rate. He said that 1,252 patients recovered overnight and 41,992 so far overall, showing a 55pc recovery ratio.

“Currently 33,121 patients are under treatment, of them 31,668 in home isolation, 78 at isolation centres and 1,375 at different hospitals,” the CM said and added that at present 672 patients were in critical condition, of them 110 were shifted to ventilators.

Murad Ali Shah said that out of 1,150 new cases of the coronavirus, 1,050 belonged to Karachi, including 322 cases in East, 300 in South, 143 in West, 111 in Central, 88 in Malir and 86 cases in Korangi.

He said Hyderabad had 22 new cases, Jamshoro and Ghotki seven each, Dadu four, Larkana, Sukkur and Thatta three each while Umerkot and Sanghar had two each. Shaheed Benazirabad had one case.

The CM urged people of Sindh to follow the standard operating procedures issued by the government, experts and the WHO.

Published in Dawn, June 27th, 2020