Three Karachi districts witness 100pc increase in corona positivity rate

KARACHI: Three Karachi districts witnessed more than 100 percent increase in the coronavirus positivity rate in the past week, Sindh Health Department said Friday.

The province's health department said that the reason behind the sharp spike in coronavirus positivity rates is because citizens have not been following the standard operation procedures (SOPs).

According to the health department, District Korangi recorded a rate of 2 percent last week, which rose to 16 percent on January 28, while District Malir recorded a rate of 2 percent, which rose to 9 percent. Last week, District Central recorded a rate of 4 percent, which has risen to 15 percent, while the lowest increase has been recorded in District West — which witnessed an increase from 3 percent to 4 percent.

On a positive note, in District East, the rate came down from 33 percent to 21 percent , the department said, adding that the positivity rate also went down in District South from 15 percent to 13 percent.

Sindh Information and Local Government Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah on Friday said that Sindh will start a COVID-19 vaccination drive from Wednesday, February 3. He was addressing a press conference at the Sindh Assembly, during which he said that the federal government has received about 500,000 vaccine doses from China, out of which Sindh has received 82,359 doses.

"In the first phase of the vaccination drive, front line healthcare workers will be inoculated, "he said. "The Sindh health department has allocated Rs1.5 billion for COVID-19 vaccine."

Nasir Shah said that the chief minister of Sindh has also earmarked a separate budget for the purpose.

"Sindh CM has also written a letter to prime minister Imran Khan regarding the procurement of the vaccine," the Sindh information minister said, adding that in the beginning, vaccines will be distributed in 10 districts of the province.

Nasir Hussain Shah added that the Centre is yet to permit the Sindh government to purchase the vaccine.

"We want to vaccinate the people of Sindh free of charge," the minister said. The minister also touched upon the topic of cleanliness in Karachi and said that there has been "considerable improvement" in this regard. He lamented that the Centre is yet to give Sindh its due share of Rs72 billion.