417 new coronavirus cases surface in Sindh

CM Murad Ali Shah says 79 patients in critical condition

KARACHI: Claiming that the pandemic situation was worsening in Sindh, provincial chief minister Syed Murad Ali Shah disclosed on Monday that 417 new coronavirus cases had been reported in the previous 24 hours, while seven more people had died as a result of the virus.

In a statement, the CM revealed that 2,571 tests had been conducted on the day, with those infected accounting for around 16.2 per cent of this number. He added that in total, the Sindh government had tested 66,623 samples so far and diagnosed 7,882 cases, accounting for 11.83 per cent of all those tested.

He further expressed grief that with the seven deaths reported on Monday, the virus had claimed 137 lives in the province so far, adding that 1.7 per cent of the reported patients had succumbed to the contagious disease.

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According to Shah, 6,116 patients were currently undergoing treatment for the virus, with 4,994 of them in home isolation, 615 at isolation centres and 507 admitted to different hospitals.

Of these patients, 79 were in critical condition, with 16 of them on ventilators, he added.

Turning to the geographical distribution of the cases in the provincial capital - which accounts for a vast majority of the cases reported in Sindh so far - he said that 357 of the new cases had emerged in Karachi. He stated that 123 of these were found in Malir district, 91 in South district, 51 in Central district, 44 in East district and 30 in West district.

Meanwhile, 20 new cases have been detected in Ghotki, eight in Hyderabad, three in Jacobabad and one each in Naushero Feroze and Sujawal, he added.