Sindh reports 14 deaths, 453 new cases in last 24 hours

KARACHI: Chief Minister Sindh Murad Ali Shah said Thursday the province recorded 14 deaths within 24 hours, taking the total number of deaths in the province to 171 as COVID-19 cases continue to emerge across the country.

According to a statement issued by the Chief Minister House, Murad said: “Though the deaths in terms of total patients are 1.9% we are still losing precious lives, but we can control it if we all observe SOPs and guidelines of the experts in true letter and spirit.”

CM Murad said that the first coronavirus case was reported on February 26 and the first death occurred on March 19, 2020.

“Today, on day 72 of the pandemic we have 9,093 cases and from March 19 to May 7 means within 49 days the coronavirus has claimed 171 lives," he added.

So far, the provincial government has conducted 76,078 tests against which 9093 cases have been confirmed positive, he said.

He said that out of 453 cases diagnosed today, 335 cases were reported from Karachi. CM Murad said that 91 cases belong to District Central, 81 South, 69 East, 33 Korangi, 33 Malir, and 28 to West.

“We are increasing random tests at grocery and vegetable shops to detect more cases of local spread,” he said.

CM Murad said that Larkana registered 35 cases, Khairpur 16, Sukkur 12, Hyderabad nine, Kashmore eight, and Sanghar three cases.

The provincial chief minister said that Larkana, Khairpur, and Sukkur have recorded a huge number of local transmission cases. “This is a serious situation and everyone has to understand the sensitivity of the issue, otherwise we won’t be able to control it,” CM Murad said.

The chief minister said that at present 7,069 patients were under treatment among which 5,858 were undergoing home isolation, 683 were being treated at isolation centers. He added that 87 patients were in critical condition and among them, 14 were on ventilators. 

CM Murad said that his government has developed 17 facilities with 4,688 beds purely allocated for COVID-19 patients, while 1,224 patients have been admitted to these facilities.

The chief minister urged people to be cautious and save themselves and their near and dear ones from the virus.