Sindh CM Murad Ali Shah shows concerns over increase in corona patients

SUKKUR: Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah on Tuesday expressed concerns over the increase in numbers of local transmission of coronavirus cases in district Larkana.

While attending a meeting on the current coronavirus situation in Larkana, chaired by PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari through video link, the Sindh chief minister said the death toll ratio has now reached 2.2 per cent in the province and it is alarming. He directed the divisional and deputy commissioners Larkana to take concrete measures to control the number of positive cases. Murad Ali Shah said, in the next week, COVID-19 testing lab would be set up to carry out tests in Sindh, saying his government had not stopped the people from performing prayers at mosques, however, requesting them to follow the SOPs. He said the provincial government did not receive any financial assistance from any institution nor it demanded the federal government to help meet the challenges of COVID-19 outbreak.

Chief minister Sindh also updated the PPP chairman and informed him that 168 new ventilators were hired and would be installed within seven days to provide cure facilities. He told him that tests of 663 members of Tableeghi Jamaat were conducted and 63 of them declared coronavirus positive, elaborating that 17 among them were being quarantined at their homes, while 33 were at the Tableeghi centres, five shifted to Karachi and eight were in isolation unit of Bibi Aseefa Bhutto Medical and Dental College, and the remaining 600 were shifted to their homes.

Later, talking to a press conference on Tuesday at DC office, Larkana, the Sindh chief minister said 289 new coronavirus positive cases were diagnosed, while five patients lost their lives. “We have not requested for financial assistance to the federal government because it was also passing through a very difficult phase,” he added. Giving details of the coronavirus patients, he said 2,764 tests were conducted and among them 289 new cases were diagnosed as corona positive, adding that so far so, 28,249 tests were conducted and 3,053 resulted in coronavirus positive cases.

Murad Ali Shah maintained, “I am sorry to share the news that as many as five people lost their lives due to coronavirus, and the death toll reached up to 66 with ratio of 2.1 per cent,” saying that 30 more patients had cured and on Tuesday they were sent homes after completion of their treatments. Sharing details of 289 new cases, he said 25 of Khairpur, 12 of Hyderabad, 11 of Larkana, six of Badin, two of Shaheed Benazirabad, two Sujawal, and one of Dadu and Sukkur each diagnosed, while in Karachi 201 new cases were reported, and among them 19 in District Central, 13 East, three Korangi, 46 Malir, 87 South and 15 in West.

PPP Sindh President Nisar Khuhro, Information Minister Nasir Hussain Shah, Minister for Irrigation Sohail Anwar Sial, Jameel Soomro, Mayor Larkana Khair Muhammad Sheikh, Commissioner Larkana Saleem Khuhro, DIG Larkana Irfan Baloch, SSP Larkana Masood Bangash and others also attended the meeting.