From Zeeshan Mirza
KARACHI: Chief Minister Sindh Murad Ali Shah said the province has ramped up COVID-19 testing as infections rise in the province and also expressed concerns over the fact that most cases were locally transmitted.
The highest number of tests yet 7,547 were conducted in the last 24 hours against which 1,824 (24.2%) were diagnosed positive.
“Whenever, we have conducted more tests, we have detected more cases it means local transmission has spread throughout the province of Sindh,” Shah said, according to a statement by the Chief Minister House on Wednesday. So far, the government has tested 200,093 samples of which 32,910 case were diagnosed positive, which translates to 16.5% of total tests conducted.
Shah, according to the statement, said that 29 more patients of coronavirus died in the past day, bumping up the grim total to 555 1.6% of the total cases. Currently, 16,333 patients are under treatment in the province. Of these, 15,070 are isolating at home, 111 are at isolation centres and 1,152 at various hospitals.
“367 patients are in critical condition, of which 56 have been put on ventilators,” said the chief minister.
According to Shah, 487 patients recovered in the last 24 hours and “returned to their normal life”. With this, the total number of recoveries reached 16,022. He said that out of 1,824 cases recorded in the past 24 hours, 1,284 belong to Karachi. This includes 323 in district East, 299 in district South, 256 in district Central, 227 in district Korangi, 120 in district Malir and 59 in district West.
