Sindh govt confirms third coronavirus case in Karachi

Patient returned from Iran on Feb 25, family kept in isolation ward

KARACHI: The Sindh government confirmed on Thursday another coronavirus case in the province. The recent confirmation raised the total number of confirmed cases in Sindh to three and in Pakistan to six.

According to health department officials, the third confirmed case is a 69-year-old man who returned from Iran on February 25. The patient has been admitted to a private hospital and his condition is stable, as per the health officials.

Following this development, a Sindh government spokesperson said that Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah had directed the health department to take immediate measures for screening persons who came in contact with the recently diagnosed patient during the past few days.

Taskforce meeting

The CM issued similar directions during a coronavirus taskforce meeting, ordering the health department to put the family of the patient in an isolation ward and trace others with whom he came into contact over the past few days. The CM was informed that total six samples for coronavirus were screened on Thursday, of which one was declared positive and another negative, while results of the remaining four samples were yet to come.

He was told that the recently diagnosed patient was a resident of Karachi and had a past record of visiting Iran.

Briefing the CM at the meeting, health officials said that so far, 251 samples were tested for coronavirus in Pakistan. Of the 251 samples, six tested positive. Among the positive samples, two are from Balochistan, three from Sindh and one from Gilgit-Baltistan.

The meeting was further told that total number of pilgrims returning from Iran added up to 2,355, of whom 1,748 had been quarantined for 14 days and none of them showed any symptoms of COVID-19. Of the remaining, 497 are still quarantined and 110 are yet to be traced.

At this, the CM directed the health secretary to share the details of the untraced pilgrims with NADRA and seek its assistance in finding them.

Later, the CM also joined a meeting called by Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Dr Zafar Mirza via video link.

Addressing the meeting, the CM said, "We have entered a public-private partnership with the Indus Hospital to deal with the situation.”"

Shah requested the Centre to share details of the pilgrims who have been put in quarantine in Taftan and Chaman so that the Sindh government could take necessary measures regarding those belonging to Sindh.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 6^th, 2020.