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KARACHI: At least 23 passengers, who were kept in isolation after testing positive for COVID-19’s Delta variant, have reportedly escaped a quarantine centre in the metropolis.
According to details, the Sindh health department was facing difficulties at a quarantine centre for passengers coming from abroad. The passengers who tested positive for coronavirus escaped due to lack of security.
A passenger who tested positive for COVID-19 at Karachi airport ran away from the government-run quarantine facility, an official of the Sindh health department said. The passenger reached Karachi from Iraq via private airlines. She was kept in a quarantine facility in Korangi but ran away yesterday.
The official further said so far 23 passengers had fled the quarantine centre since May 23 and they all were infected with the Covid-19 Delta variant.
A day earlier, it was reported that Sindh government would set up a 100-bed isolation facility in District Malir to quarantine passengers coming to Karachi airport amid the rising cases from abroad.
According to details, the decision was taken at a top-level meeting held at the Sindh Secretariat with Sindh Chief Secretary Syed Mumtaz Ali Shah in the chair.
The chief secretary has directed the Karachi commissioner and Malir deputy commissioner to establish a 100-bed facility to isolate passengers diagnosed with coronavirus.
A similar 100-bed COVID-19 isolation facility would also be established at the Karachi Expo Centre. The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) would provide all the necessary facilities in this regard.
Sindh Health Secretary Dr Kazim Jatoi informed the meeting that the medical superintendents of all the government-run hospitals of the city had been authorised to recruit people on an immediate basis to overcome the shortage of staff.