Sindh sees highest single-day Covid-19 spike, recoveries

As tally crosses 25,000, CM looks for completion of more facilities

KARACHI: Sindh recorded on Thursday the highest number coronavirus cases as well as the highest number of recovered patients in a day.

In a statement issued by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, as many as 1,103 more cases were reported on Thursday, following which the province’s tally rose to 25,309.

The highest tally previously reported had been 1,080 cases in a day, diagnosed from 5,498 cases. The latest report of 1,103 cases came after the province conducted 4,101 tests – a positive test ratio of 27 per cent.

Of these cases, the CM said, 905 belonged to Karachi with the highest percentage of locally transmitted cases, 32 belonged to Hyderabad, 21 to Shikarpur, 20 to Larkana, 19 to Sukkur, 18 to Ghotki, 11 to Jacobabad, seven each to Jamshoro and Qambar-Shahdadkot, two each to Dadu and Mirpurkhas and one each to Sanghar, Nawabshah and Thatta.



Expressing worry over the rising incidence of Covid-19, he said, “We all need to ponder why the local transmission of the coronavirus is increasing by the day,” observing that people were no longer following standard operating procedures (SOPs).

“They (SOPs) have been issued in the interest of the people and if they continue to be dismissive of them, we will not be able to contain the virus,” he warned.

Speaking about recovered patients, the CM said that 1,924 more patients had beaten the virus - the most in a day so far - and now the total number of recovered patients in the province added up to 11,190.

Besides, he said that with 16 more infection-related deaths, the coronavirus death toll in the province had climbed to 396.

Visits to hospitals

Later in the day, amid reports of coronavirus facilities at hospitals running out of space for more patients, he visited the under-construction infectious diseases hospital in NIPA, for which, he said, he had released Rs1.2 billion for completion and procurement of equipment.

On the visit, he handed over the charge of the hospital to Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) vice-chancellor Dr Saeed Qureshi, directing him to ensure that block-A of the facility, housing 200 beds, was made functional within a month.

In addition, he ordered the works and services secretary to ensure the presence of at least one engineer on the site at all times so that the construction could be completed within a month.

When told that the facility had no electricity and water, the CM called the K-Electric chief executive officer and Karachi Water and Sewerage Board managing director, ordering them to ensure the supply of the amenities to the hospital on priority basis.

He then visited DUHS’ 50-bed dental hospital in Gulistan-e-Johar, opposite the University of Karachi.

This too, he told Qureshi, should be made functional within a month, and prepared for accommodating coronavirus patients.

The CM directed health secretary Zahid Abbasi to provide the necessary equipment and staff required to run the facility.