People acquiring viral disease from those returning from abroad

KARACHI: The health authorities in Sindh said on Monday the total number of Coronavirus cases had jumped to 150 from 35 on Sunday after dozens of pilgrims from Iran, kept in quarantine at Sukkur, tested positive for the viral disease while several cases of people-to-people transmission were also reported from Karachi too. 

“Total number of Coronavirus cases in Sindh has jumped to 150 after 106 more pilgrims from Iran, who are being quarantined at Sukkur after reaching there from Taftan, tested positive on Monday,” an official of the Sindh health department told The News.

The officials maintained that several people also tested positive for COVID-19 in Karachi, raising the total number of cases in Karachi to 30, saying now the community transmission of the Coronavirus has started in Karachi where people were acquiring the viral disease from those who had come from abroad and transmitting to others.

At the moment, one person tested positive for Coronavirus in Hyderbabad, the official said adding that at the moment, over 150 samples of suspected patients from different hospitals were being analyzed at three health facilities including the Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH), Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) and Indus Hospital, Karachi. On the other hand, infectious diseases experts in Karachi claimed that a ‘sizeable number’ of people were affected by the coronavirus after pilgrims from Iran was allowed to enter without keeping in a proper quarantine by the federal health authorities and added that even infected people from the UK, Iraq, Syria and Saudi Arabia were allowed into the country and they spread the disease to those around them.