'Covid-19 cases, deaths, recoveries, all on the rise'

Sindh CM says virus claiming more than 12 lives per day in Sindh on average

KARACHI: Announcing that the province saw the emergence of 817 new coronavirus cases, 12 more deaths and 535 fresh recoveries as of Friday morning, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah observed in a statement issued on the day that the situation was "critical."

"It [the situation] is critical as not just the recovery rate but the number of new cases and death toll are also increasing," he said.

Speaking about the newly reported cases, he said that the increase in the number was due to the surge in local transmission, explaining that the number of new cases also would increase by a larger margin with the expansion of the testing pool.

This, he said, showed that the infection was spreading through local transmission and if not curbed, locally transmitted cases would continue to multiply by the day.

Presenting a geographical breakdown of the new cases, the CM said, 567 of the new cases belonged to Karachi. Besides, he said, 57 cases were detected in Larkana, 23 in Sukkur, 22 in Khairpur, 19 in Qambar-Shahdadkot, 16 in Ghotki, 12 in Sanghar, 11 in Hyderabad, seven in Jacobabad, three each in Jamshoro, Shaheed Benazirabad and Shikarpur and one in Tando Allahyar.

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Specifically speaking of Larkana, he revealed that following the death of eight suspected coronavirus patients in districts, 122 samples of their contacts were collected for testing, among which 35 were found infected.

In Pir Jo Goth, where a virus cluster had emerged last weekend, 47 cases were reported from a pool of 291 samples collected for testing, he added.

Expressing alarm over the death toll reaching 255, following 12 more deaths on Friday, the CM noted that on average, more than 12 coronavirus patients were dying in the province every day. He added that the death ratio had to be reduced through precautionary and administrative measures.

However, he expressed optimism over the rise in the recovery ratio. "For the first time our recovery ratio has jumped to 24 per cent," he said, pointing out, however, that it made little difference as the increase in new cases continued to burden the province's healthcare system.

He further assured that patients isolated at home were being monitored by doctors and were immediately shifted to hospitals in case of an emergency.

The CM stressed the need for following pandemic related standard operating procedures (SOPs) to contain the virus, warning that otherwise the spread of the contagion couldn't be controlled. "My strategy is to contain the virus by isolating patients and at the same time adopting the SOPs and observing social distancing," he said, adding this was only possible if people cooperated with the government..