Sindh reports 1,439 new coronavirus cases, 23 more deaths

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that the COVID-19 has claimed 23 more lives and infected 1,439 people in Sindh within the past 24 hours.

In a statement issued from the CM House on Tuesday, Murad Ali Shah said that with testing of 5, 454 samples, 1,439 new cases emerged, constituting 26.4 percent of the tests.

The chief minister further said that the provincial health authorities have conducted 192,546 tests which produced 31,086 cases. “Overall detection of the cases comes to 16.2 percent while the current detection has been recorded at 26.4 percent,” he added.

He said that with the death of 23 more patients, the death toll has reached 526, which was 1.7 percent of the total patients. The death rate has increased from 1.6 percent to 1.7 percent, adding that 358 COVID-19 patients were in a critical condition, with 64 on ventilators.

He informed of 15,022 under treatment patients, he said that 13,813 were in home isolation, 111 at isolation centres and 1,098 at different hospitals. So far 15,538 patients have recovered, making a 50 percent recovery ratio, he added.

Providing district-wise details, the CM said that out of 1,439 cases, 1,035 belonged to Karachi. He said Korangi has the highest number with 263 cases, East 242, Central 166, South 167, Malir 139 and West 58.

Shah said that in the rural areas the coronavirus was spreading like fire in the jungle. He added that Larkana has 50 cases, Hyderabad 47, Sukkur 40, Khairpur 33, Ghotki 27, Shaheed Benazirabad 17, Badin 15, Sanghar 13, Jamshoro nine, Qambar six, Sujawal and Shikarpur have five each, and Tando Mohammad Khan, Umerkot and Matiari have one case each.

The Sindh chief minister urged people to follow the SOPs, adding that otherwise this epidemic could not be defeated.

The chief minister said that everything cannot be shut down in the province in order to sustain livelihoods but preventive measures can be adopted.