COVID-19 death toll in Sindh climbs to 555 after 29 deaths

By Our Correspondent
June 04, 2020

As many as 29 more COVID-19 patients have lost their lives in Sindh during the last 24 hours with a majority of deaths occurring in Karachi, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said on Wednesday in his daily statement on the situation of COVID-19 in the province.

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After the 29 deaths, the death toll due to the contagious disease had reached 555 in Sindh, he said. “It is another sad day when we have lost 29 more people, both men and women, due to COVID-19 in the province during last 24 hours. Majority of these deaths occurred in Karachi.”

The CM explained that at the moment, 1,152 patients with the coronavirus infection were undergoing treatment at various hospitals, of whom condition of 367 was critical. He added that around 56 patients were on life support at various health facilities.

A total of 1,824 people had tested positive for COVID-19 in the province during the last 24 hours, the CM said, adding that the total tests conducted in the 24 hours were 7,547, which so far was the highest number of tests conducted in a single day in Sindh.

“We tested 7,547 samples for the first time in a single day in the province, which produced the highest number of 1,824 new cases. Whenever, we have conducted more tests, we have detected more cases – it means local transmission has spread throughout the province of Sindh,” he remarked.

He added that the number of new positive cases was 24.2 per cent of the new tests. Shah explained that so far the government had tested 200,093 samples, which detected 32,910 cases that constituted 16.5 per cent of the total tests.

The CM said the total death toll to 555 constituted 1.6 per cent of the total COVID-19 patients. At present, 16,333 patients were under treatment, of whom 15,070 were in home isolation, 111 at the isolation centres and 1,152 at different hospitals.

The CM revealed that another 487 patients had recovered during the last 24 hours, after which the number of patients recovered so far had reached 16,022, which constituted 49 per cent of the total cases.

He said that of the new 1,824 cases, 1,284 belonged to Karachi. They included 323 from District East, 299 from District South, 256 from District Central, 227 from District Korangi, 120 from District Malir and 59 from District West.

Talking about other districts, Shah said Hyderabad had 73 new cases, Ghotki 36, Shikarpur 24, Jasmhoro and Kashmore 13 each, Kamber-Shahdadkot 10, Khairpur and Dadu nine each, Mirpurkhas and Sujawal eight each, Jacobabad seven, Nawabshah and Badin four each, and Sanghar had three new cases. Shah said that with the lockdown being further eased and public transport also allowed, the people must be more cautious to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Plane crash

Sharing the data of 97 passengers who died in the plane crash incident on May 22, the CM said 89 bodies identified had so far been handed over to their family members. He added that of the 89 bodies, 53 were identified through the DNA test.

He said that at present eight bodies were kept in mortuaries, including two at the Chhipa morgue and six at the Edhi morgue. He added that DNAs of three bodies were yet to be matched.

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