Eight more fall prey to Covid-19 as 542 others test positive in Sindh

The novel coronavirus claimed eight more lives in Sindh during the last 24 hours (June 17), bringing the death toll to 5,314 in the province.

As many as 542 cases emerged when 13,970 tests were conducted in the province, said Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said in his daily Covid-19 situation report on Friday. He added that with 5,314 deaths reported in the province so far, the Covid-19 fatality rate stood at 1.6 per cent.

Currently, 19,830 people were said be infected with the coronavirus. Of them, 19,189 people were in home isolation while 27 were at isolation centres in different cities of the province. The remaining 614 were under treatment at different healthcare facilities.

As per the CM report, the highest number of people, i.e. 1,359, had died in Karachi’s District East, followed by 987 in District Central, 682 in District South, 559 in District Korangi, 433 in District West, 204 in District Malir and 330 people in District Hyderabad.

Officials said Covid deaths in other districts of the province were in double figures, while 205 deaths were under investigation. Chief Minister Shah said 13,970 samples were tested, resulting in the detection of 542 cases and constituting a 3.9 per cent detection rate.

So far, 4,354,403 tests have been conducted and 331,077 cases detected. Of them 92.4 per cent, or 305,933, of the patients had recovered, including 514 overnight. Of the 542 new cases reported on June 17, 279 were detected in Karachi -- 74 from District East, 66 from District Central, 52 from District South, 46 from District Korangi, 24 from District Malir and 17 from District West.

Badin reported 26 cases, Hyderabad 25, Thatta 18, Mirpurkhas 15, Naushehro Feroze 13, Matiari and Shaheed Benazirabad 12 each, Tharparkar 11, Dadu, Jamshoro and Qamber 10 each, Jacobabad nine, Tando Allahyar eight, Sujawal seven, Sukkur four, Kashmore three, Larkana, Shikarpur and Umerkot two each.

The chief minister urged the people of the province to follow the standard operating procedures that his government had put in place to ensure that the deadly virus was effective contained.