Sindh enforces emergency in govt hospitals as coronavirus cases surge

• Decision followed the enforcement of a lockdown by Sindh.
• Citizens rush to vaccination centres after warning of blocking of sims.
• Murtaza Wahab says 185,406 people got vaccinated within 24 hours.

KARACHI: The Sindh Health Department on Saturday enforced emergency in all the government hospitals across the province following a surge in coronavirus cases.

An official notification issued in this regard stated that the emergency has been enforced to deal with the increasing cases.

The Sindh government on Friday imposed a lockdown till August 8, which went into effect today, as the province continues to battle the dangerous surge in COVID-19 infections.

COVID-19 claims 30 more lives

Meanwhile, a statement issued on the Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah’s behalf on Saturday said that a total of 30 people succumbed to the deadly virus and 2,772 were infected overnight.

Per the statement, the recent deaths lifted the death tally to 6,001, constituting a 1.6% death rate. The new infections, 2,772, were reported when 18,267 samples were tested, amounting to a 15.1% positivity ratio.

Of the 2,772 new infections, 2,200 were reported from Karachi alone, said the statement.

According to the statement, 43,000 patients are isolated at homes, 1,399 are being treated at different hospitals and 39 at isolation centres.

The condition of 1,221 patients was stated as critical, with 108 of them put on ventilators.

Vaccination centres packed with citizens

Hundreds of citizens flocked to the vaccination centres in Karachi today, since the Sindh government warned of blocking the SIM cards of those who are not getting inoculated against the contagion.

Endless queues of people were seen at the major vaccination centres in the city throughout the day and till late at night.

Sindh government's spokesman Barrister Murtaza Wahab claimed  that the government of Sindh’s warning for blocking SIM cards helped in speeding up the vaccination drive.

"As many as 185,406 people got vaccinated within 24 hours in Sindh," said Wahab, while addressing press conference earlier in the day.