KARACHI: The Sindh government’s Health Department has decided to make fully functional the special wards at the major government-run hospitals for treating the patients suffering from coronavirus. The decision to this effect was reached at a meeting held on Wednesday with a meeting presided over by Sindh Health Minister, Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho, to review the situation of coronavirus infections.
The meeting decided to make fully functional the coronavirus wards along with the provision of ventilators and oxygen at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Civil Hospital of Karachi, Ojha campus of Dow University of Health Sciences and at the hospital of Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences.
The meeting was briefed that as many as 248 new coronavirus cases have emerged in the last 24 hours as a result of 4,582 tests showing an overall positivity ratio of 5.4 per cent in Sindh.
The meeting was further informed that at present there were 2,947 active coronavirus cases in the province and 2,908 patients were observing home isolation while 39 patients are getting treatment at the hospital. One more patient with coronavirus infection lost his life in the past 24 hours as nine more Covid-19 patients were admitted to the hospitals. The coronavirus positivity ratio in Karachi was 9.21 per cent in Karachi, 0.16 per cent in Hyderabad, and 0.68 per cent in rest of the districts of Sindh.
Some 34.27 million people in Sindh above 12 years of age have received both the doses of the coronavirus vaccine. A total of 34.66 million people in Sindh have completed the coronavirus vaccination. Some 10 million people in Sindh have received the booster dose of the vaccine. So far, three phases of the door-to-door inoculation campaign have been conducted to widen the coverage of the coronavirus booster dose.
The meeting was informed that 571 ventilators were available in the hospitals of Sindh to treat critically ill Covid-19 patients. Apart from this, high-dependency units have also been functional at the hospitals of Sindh. The Sindh Health Minister asked the officials to increase the ratio of coronavirus testing in the province given the prevailing situation of the spread of the deadly infectious disease.
Dr Pechuho said the given the present situation the Sindh Health Department would not suggest to the government to impose lockdown in the province as the people instead should get the booster dose of the vaccine, wear face masks, and observe other health safety precautions to avoid any untoward situation.
The minister asked the health authorities to provide the inoculation facility at the doorstep of such people who could not reach the vaccination centres. The Health Minister said the results of the genome profiling of the coronavirus should be obtained in order to analyse the adverse effects of the deadly contagious diseases on the human health.
Meanwhile, as per the directives issued by Sindh Chief Secretary, Dr Muhammad Sohail Rajput, all the officials, staffers, and visitors to the Sindh Secretariat and other offices of the Sindh government will wear face masks and observe other standard operating procedures against the spread of coronavirus infections.