KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Syed Murad Ali Shah on Friday said that six more patients of the coronavirus lost their lives overnight, lifting the death toll to 2,574 with 1.8 per cent death rate.

In a statement, he said 225 more cases emerged when 8,429 tests were conducted, raising the tally to 141,474 with 2.6pc current detection rate.

The CM said that so far 1,519,134 tests had been conducted and 141,474 cases were diagnosed.

He said that currently 4,406 patients were under treatment, of them 4,164 in home isolation, five at isolation centres and 237 in different hospitals. The condition of 168 patients was stated to be critical, including 20 shifted to ventilators, he added.

According to the statement, out of 225 new cases, 164 were detected in Karachi, including 69 in South, 40 in East, 28 in Central, 20 in Korangi, five in Malir and two in West.

Eight cases were found in Hyderabad, six in Sukkur, four in Jamshoro, three each in Sanghar and Shikarpur, two each in Dadu, Larkana, Naushahro Feroze and Umerkot while one each in Badin, Jacobabad, Qambar, Matiari and Mirpurkhas.

The CM urged the people to observe the standard operating procedures (SOPs) strictly.

Published in Dawn, October 17th, 2020