Sindh’s chief minister has directed all the public and private hospitals across the province to share the record of every patient who visits them with symptoms of pneumonia and respiratory distress so their further medical investigation can be conducted to contain the coronavirus.
Syed Murad Ali Shah issued this order during a meeting of the task force on coronavirus that he presided over at the CM House on Monday.
The CM directed the provincial health department to issue an advisory to all the public and private hospitals to share the data of every patient visiting them with symptoms of pneumonia so their further medical investigation can be conducted.
Int’l passengers
The additional chief secretary home informed the CM that on his instructions he had requested the federal government to issue a health card or travel declaration to every international passenger so that their record for necessary screening could be maintained.
Usman Chachar said the Centre has accepted the chief executive’s proposal, and health cards and travel declarations are being distributed among the passengers coming to Karachi on international flights. Every passenger has to record their travel history of the past fortnight in their declaration.
Negative results
Health Secretary Zahid Abbasi informed the meeting that four coronavirus suspects were tested on Monday and the results of all them had come in negative.
On Sunday the latest coronavirus patient had declared coming into contact with 27 people, of them eight were tested and declared negative, while the remaining 19 were yet to be tested.
Responding to a question, the CM was told that three coronavirus patients were under treatment, and two of them had recovered, while the third was recovering at a slow pace. Shah directed the health department to ensure proper care and treatment the patient whose recovery rate was slow.
The meeting was told that 135 people have been tested in Sindh, and four of them have been diagnosed as positive while 112 as negative.
Moreover, 230 pilgrims are being kept in quarantine, while 63 of them will complete their isolation period on March 10, 25 on March 11 and 34 on March 12.
Data sharing
The CM was also informed that 59 suspects who had travelled with the four coronavirus patients of Sindh had been traced and their details had been shared with all the deputy commissioners for contacting them and conducting their necessary medical investigation.
A representative of the Federal Investigation Agency informed the chief executive that 29 passengers who had gone to Iran had travelled to another country before returning to Pakistan. He said that their records have also been shared with the health department.
The CM was also informed that 69 passengers had visited other countries after travelling to Iran and had returned around a fortnight ago, so their details had also been shared with the health department.
On this Shah was informed that one of them was being kept in quarantine while the deputy commissioners had also traced the others. The meeting was told that the immigration authorities have also shared the data of 3,630 passengers who had returned from Iran, Italy, South Korea, Iraq and Thailand.
The meeting was also attended by Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho, CM’s law adviser Murtaza Wahab, Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar, Chief Secretary Mumtaz Ali Shah, Sindh police chief Mushtaq Mahar, CM’s Principal Secretary Sajid Jamal Abro, Karachi Commissioner Iftikhar Shallwani, Health Secretary Zahid, and representatives of different organisations.
