Delta variant brings back curbs

As many as 26 patients die of Covid-19 overnight

KARACHI:

The loss of 26 patients overnight to the novel coronavirus coincided with the Sindh government’s decision on Wednesday to, once again, close recreational places, indoor dining, sports activities and schools from classes I to IX.

After seeing the city return to relative normalcy for a short period of time, locals would have to limit their activity. The decision was taken by Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah as he was presiding over a meeting of the Provincial Taskforce on Coronavirus. He said Covid-19 had again started spreading in the province, particularly the city of Karachi, at a rapid pace.

He warned of even stricter action if standard operating procedures were not followed to the tee. The CM revealed that the death toll had risen to 5,647 and 1,420 new cases emerged when 16,528 tests were conducted. Shah said these latest figures amounted to an 8.6 per cent current detection rate overnight.

Read More: Global Covid-19 death toll exceeds 4 million

Provincial ministers, Nasir Shah, Ikram Dharejo, CM’s advisor on law Murtaza Wahab, health parliamentary secretary Qasim Siraj Soomro, chief secretary Mumtaz Shah, IG Police Mushtaq Maher, CM’s Private Secretary Sajid Jamal Abro, Home ACS Qazi Shahid Parvez, Karachi Commissioner Naveed Shaikh, finance secretary Hassan Naqvi, school education secretary Ahmed Bux Narejo, health secretary Kazim Jatoi, Dow University VC Professor Saeed Qureshi, Dr Qaiser, Dr Sara of WHO, representatives of Corps-5 and Rangers attended the meeting.

 

The chief minister was told that the overall detection ratio of Covid-19 had reached 7.4 per cent in the province and was recorded at 17.11 per cent on July 13 in Karachi. Shah replied that on July 7, the detection rate of the city was 11.98 per cent and had hit 17.11 per cent within seven days.

The CM said 26,546 patients were currently being treated. Of them, 25,604 were in home isolation, 877 at different hospitals and 65 in isolation centres. He added the condition of 817 was said to be critical, including 61 who were shifted to ventilators.

“The situation is getting bad to worse and will turn for the worst if necessary measures are not taken,” he said.

The CM said that out of 1,420 new cases, Karachi had 1134, including 334 from East, 275 from Central, 235 from South, 123 from Korangi, 91 from Malir and 76 from West. Meanwhile, Hyderabad’s cases were 60, Sukkur’s 33, Jamshoro’s 26, Shaheed Benazirabad’s 24 and Tharparkar’s 14.

Thatta and Naushero Feroze had 12 cases each, while Badin, Sujawal, Tando Allahyar and Mirpurkhas had 11 cases each. Sanghar had 10, Matiari nine, Umerkot seven, Ghotki three, Dadu and Larkana two each as well as Kashmore and Shikarpur with one each.

At the taskforce meeting, Sindh Health Secretary Kazim Jatoi told the chief minister that 365 cases of six types of Coronavirus had been detected in the province up till July 12. Of the total, 95 were of the UK variant, 162 of the South African variant and 29 of the Brazilian variant.

It was stated that 143 patients of Covid-19 died in the month of July and 98 of them 69 per cent) were on ventilators. As many as 29 or 20 per cent were off ventilators and 16 or 11 per cent died at home.

The meeting was told that in the first wave, starting from March 1, 2020, Sindh had a peak of 3038 cases. The peak of the second wave was 1,983, while that of the third was 2,076 cases. The fourth and current wave showed a peak of 1,210 cases, thus far.

Restrictions

To combat the reemerging increase of Covid-19 cases, the chief minister decided to close indoor dining, schools from classes I to IX, recreational places and water parks. Areas off limits to the public would include Sea View, Hawkes bay beach and Keenjhar Lake, apart from swimming pools, cinemas and indoor gyms. However, schools where examinations are in progress would function as per normal.

The chief minister said he will review the situation on the coming Monday and may take stricter measures if SOPs were not followed. Shah was also told that 5,870,997 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine had received and 4,465,908 were administered. He urged the health department to accelerate the vaccination drive.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 15^th, 2021.