KARACHI: The Provincial Task Force on Coronavirus on Thursday decided to continue the on-going restrictions across the province as the number of infected patients hit a new high overnight with over 14 per cent of positive cases among the tested people in Karachi alone.

The provincial Task Force on Coronavirus in its meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah at CM House on Thursday also decided to meet again on next Saturday to review imposition of more non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs).

The meeting was attended by provincial ministers Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho, Saeed Ghani, Syed Nasir Shah, adviser Murtaza Wahab, chief secretary Mumtaz Shah, IG Police Mushtaq Maher, additional chief secretary of home Usman Chachar, Karachi commissioner Naveed Shaikh, Adl IG Karachi Imran Minhas, finance secretary Hassan Naqvi, school education secretary Ahmed Bux Narejo, Dr Bari, Dr Faisal, Dr Sajjad Qaiser, representatives of Corps-5, Rangers and WHO and other concerned.

The meeting participants were told that in the beginning of Ramazan (April 19, 2020), there were 5.2 per cent or 737 positive cases in the province.

In the middle of the Ramazan the detection ratio of the cases reached eight per cent or 1,155 cases. On Eidul Fitr ( May 13) there were 1,232 cases and after six days of Eid the number of cases further increased to 2,076 that constituted 10.2 per cent of the tests.

The chief minister said that on May 19, a record 20,421 tests were conducted which detected 2,076 cases that came to 10.2 per cent detection rate. “In Karachi alone 9,606 tests were conducted against which 1,356 cases were detected that constituted 14.12 per cent,” he disclosed.

The district-wise data of positive cases during the last one-week, after Eid, [May 13-19], showed that Karachi East had 28 per cent cases and 16 deaths, South 17 per cent cases and six deaths, Central 14 per cent cases and eight deaths, West 11 per cent cases with no death, Korangi 10 per cent cases and one death.

The meeting was told that Hyderabad had 10 per cent cases with 21 deaths and Sukkur 14 per cent cases with one death.

It was told that during the last one week 7,837 coronavirus cases were detected and 67 patients lost their lives. The meeting decided to continue the on-going NPIs. The task force will meet again after two days, on Saturday, to review the situation for imposing more restrictions.

15 more Covid-19 patients died

As many as 15 more Covid-19 patients died overnight and 1,248 new cases emerged when 17,123 tests were conducted.

In a statement, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said that death of 15 more patients during the past 24 hours lifted the death toll to 4,869 that constituted 1.6 per cent death rate.

He said that 17,123 samples were tested which detected 1,248 cases that constituted 7.3 per cent current detection rate, adding that so far 3,901,272 tests had been conducted against which 304,554 cases were diagnosed, of them 91.7 per cent or 279,188 patients recovered, including 908 overnight.

The CM said that currently 20,497 patients were under treatment and 19,610 of them were in home isolation, 862 at different hospitals and 25 patients were in isolation centres.

He said that the condition of 826 patients was stated to be critical, including 63 shifted to ventilators.

According to the chief minister, out of 1,248 new cases, 565 have been detected in Karachi, including 234 in East, 145 in Central, 129 in South, 20 in Korangi, 19 in West and 18 in Malir.

He said Hyderabad had 206 fresh cases, Sukkur 76, Kashmore 57, Dadu 39, Matiari 35, Sujawal 30, Mirpurkhas and Shikarpur 27 each, Nawabshah 23, Jacobabad 22, Khairpur & Tando Allahyar 21 each, Tando Mohammad Khan 18, Badin and Jamshoro 15 each, Ghotki 12, Larkana four, Sanghar three, Naushahro Feroze and Umarkot one each new case. The CM urged people to abide by the SOPs issued by the government.

Published in Dawn, May 21st, 2021