COVID-19: Sindh crosses 100,000 cases mark, Karachi remains most affected

KARACHI: Sindh surpassed 100,000 coronavirus cases on Thursday after 1,538 more people tested positive, as Karachi remains the most affected with infections nearing 80,000 in the city.

As of today, Pakistan has recorded a total of 242,386 infections. Sindh remains at the top with 100,900 cases, while Punjab has recorded 84,587, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 29,052, Balochistan 11,052, Gilgit-Baltistan 1,605, and Azad Jammu and Kashmir 1,459 cases.

The government is now claiming that it has "flattened" the COVID-19 curve in the country and has credited its "smart lockdown" strategy for the outcome.

Prime Minister Imran Khan, while addressing a ceremony in Islamabad today, said Pakistan’s curve of infections is “flattening” and advised the people to take extra caution during Eid-ul-Azha to maintain the trend.

Earlier, Federal Minister for Planning Asad Umar said that Pakistan's COVID-19 tally can remain under 400,000 if health guidelines and SOPs are followed.

The minister on Friday said that the COVID-19 death rate is also "declining" in the country and since the past few days, only 5% people tested positive for the virus.

Karachi remains most affected

Chief Minister Sindh Murad Ali Shah, in a statement today, said that the province's death rate stands at 1.6%, while the virus detection rate is 19%.

Till the filing of this report, the province had 41,596 active cases, out of which, 581 were in critical condition, including 75 who were on ventilators.

However, 1,254 patients recovered from the disease, bumping the recoveries to 57,627, and the province's recovery rate to 57%.

Shedding light on the new cases that have been detected in the province's districts, the chief minister said out of 1,538 new cases, 722 have been detected from six districts of Karachi division — 204 in East, 166 in South, 98 in Korangi, 94 in Central, 75 in Malir, and 49 in West.

Hyderabad recorded 97, Sukkur 88, Naushahro Feroze 72, Badin 66, Sanghar 55, Shikarpur 53, Larkana 32, Sujawal 26, Thatta 24, Umerkot 23, Ghotki 21, Tando Allahyar 18, Kambar 17, Jamshoro 14, Mirpur Khas 12, Dadu six, Jacobabad five, Shaheed Benazirabad four, and Kashmore and Khairpur one each.