Coronavirus claimed nine more lives, 709 new cases detected: CM Sindh

He disclosed that out of 9,210 patients, 99 patients were in critical condition

KARACHI (Web Desk) – Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah while sharing the bulletin of coronavirus with the traders community whom he met at Sindh Assembly building said 709 new cases had emerged when 4215 samples were tested while nine more patients lost their lives, taking the death toll to 189.

The meeting was attended by provincial ministers, Dr Azra Pechuho, Saeed Ghani, Imtiaz Shaikh, Nasir Shah, Ikram Dharejo, Advisor Law Murtaza Wahab, Mayor Karachi Wasim Akhtar, Chief Secretary Mumtaz Shah, IG Sindh Mushtaq Maher, Home Secretary Usman Chachar, Adl IG Karachi Ghulam Nabi Memon, Qasim Siraj Teli, and leaders of different organizations of the traders, said a statement on Sunday.

At the outset of the meeting, the chief minister said that 4215 tests were conducted against which 17 percent or 709 new cases were detected. He added that the government had conducted 91,323 tests and found 11,480 cases as positive which were 12.6 percent of the total test. “The ratio of positive cases is on the increase because it is peak of the epidemic in Sindh,” he said.

He said nine more patients lost their lives while fighting against the virus and the number of deaths have reached to 189 which was 1.6 percent of the total patients.

Syed Murad Ali Shah said at present 9,210 patients were under treatment, of them 7,973 or 86 percent of the total patients were in home isolation and our doctors were looking after them. He added that 684 or eight percent were at Isolation Centers and 553 or six percent were under treatment in different hospitals.

He disclosed that out of 9,210 patients, 99 patients were in critical condition and of them 26 have been put on ventilators. “My prayers and doctors efforts are with them to recover at the earliest,” he said.

Syed Murad Ali Shah said 61 more patients recovered and discharged to their respective homes and the number of patients cured so far come to 2081 which constituted 18.1 percent of the total patients.

The chief minister disclosing the data of Karachi said that out of 709 new cases, 448 cases had been detected from the city. He added that 152 cases had been detected from district Malir, 145 from South, 87 from Central, 81 from East, 54 from West and 29 from Korangi.

He said since random testing of grocery shops and vegetable venders had been started the number of cases were increasing there. “I would advise the people not to go at shops without masks and must observe social distancing there.”

Syed Murad Ali Shah said 29 cases had been detected from Hyderabad, 19 from Jacobabad, 16 from Shikarpur, 12 Ghotki, 11 each one from Sanghar and Naushehroferoze, six from Sukkur, five from Larkana, four from Shaheed Benazirabad, three each from Jamshoro and Khairpur and two from Tando Allahyar.

The chief minister said as far as the population of the provinces was concerned Sindh was conducting highest number of tests per day though we were conducting tests of suspects only. “Our death ration is also lower than KPK and Punjab,” he said and termed it a result of lockdown.

Syed Murad Ali Shah said all quarantined suspects were being tested and our quarantine facilities were success stories of Sindh having capacity of more than 14000 rooms. “We have highest number of cases under critical care-services which are being utilized as cases are rising,” he concluded.

Negotiations between Sindh govt, traders go successful

Earlier, Chief Minister of Sindh (CM) Murad Ali Shah said that negotiation with the traders on opening businesses amid coronavirus lockdown went successful. According to details, the provincial government has decided to open markets except shopping malls from May 11 from 6:00am to 5:00pm. However, implementation on the SOPs should be ensured. Earlier, Sindh government had decided to ease the lockdown from May 11 after federation’s decision to end the countrywide lockdown in phases starting May 9. CM Murad had announced opening of limited number businesses in the province with certain SOPs while in his late night statement, he hinted to further tighten the lockdown in the province. This contradictory statement of the CM baffled traders community in the province.