KARACHI: As many as 18 more cases of coronavirus have been diagnosed in Sindh, of them 13 from the Sukkur quarantine centre and one patient came from Quetta. The number of cases has risen to 35 in the province.

This was disclosed in the 18th meeting of the task force on coronavirus held under the chairmanship of Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah at the CM House.

The meeting was attended by provincial ministers Dr Azra Pechuho, Syed Nasir Shah, Adviser Murtaza Wahab, Chief Secretary Mumtaz Shah, Inspector General of Police Mushtaq Mahar, Home Secretary Usman Chachar, Commissioner Iftikhar Shahlwani, Finance Secretary Hassan Naqvi, representatives of airport services, civil aviation, Federal Investigation Agency, V Corps, Rangers and others.

The chief minister was informed that 40 samples of pilgrims arrived at the Sukkur quarantine centre were tested in Karachi. Out of 40 samples, 13 were diagnosed as positive.

He directed the commissioner of Sukkur and the Gambat hospital to segregate the positive patients from the negative ones. “Those who are being diagnosed as serious should be shifted to the Gambat Institute of Medical Sciences,” he said.

13 of the 18 new patients have been brought from Taftan and quarantined in Sukkur

He was told that apart from Sukkur, five more cases of coronavirus were diagnosed. They included three of the contacts of the patient who came from Saudi Arabia, another had pneumonia symptoms and diagnosed as coronavirus positive, while the fifth one had come from Quetta with coronavirus symptoms.

661 more pilgrims to arrive tomorrow

The meeting was informed that samples of 40 suspects, out of 293 who came from Taftan to the Sukkur isolation centre, were tested and 13 of them were diagnosed as positive and 250 were yet to be tested.

The chief minister said that another batch of 661 pilgrims was expected to arrive on Tuesday.

“This is serious situation and we all have to deal it accordingly,” he said.

The details of 21 cases are as follows:

Eight have travel history of Syria, three have of Dubai, three of Iran and two of them have been cured, four have local transmission, two have travel history of Saudi Arabia and one patient came from Balochistan.

The chief minister was told that from Sukkur 203 samples landed in Karachi and the remaining 93 were on their way.

He said that the Sindh government did 339 tests, excluding of Sukkur, and 318 of them were declared as negative while 21 were diagnosed as positive.

It was also informed that at present 20 suspected patients were in quarantine at their homes and all of them would be released by March 19, if found negative.

Presenting a daily report, the health secretary said that 1,874 cases of pneumonia had been reported by public sector hospitals while the private hospitals shared the list of 702 patients.

He said that the department conducted the coronavirus test of those patients who had severe symptoms.

As many as 4,631 passengers landed at Karachi airport’s Jinnah Terminal on Saturday and five of them were suspected patients. They included one each from Italy, England and Duabi and two from Jeddah.

Witnesses testing process

Earlier, the chief minister along with the law adviser visited a laboratory where coronavirus tests were conducted.

He witnessed the testing process and provided them extra kits.

The chief minister ordered provision of necessary machinery to enhance the capacity of the lab already working on testing of coronavirus samples.

Prof Dr Bari of the Indus Hospital briefed the chief minister about the process of testing the samples.

Later, the chief minister went to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre and visited a newly established isolation ward where some patients were under treatment.

The JPMC’s executive director briefed the chief minister about the arrangements made in the isolation ward.

She complained of shortage of ventilators. The chief minister directed the chief secretary on phone to provide ventilators to the JPMC and make their isolation centre function at its full capacity.

A public message issued by the CM said: “If you develop cough, fever, body ache or shortness of breath, immediately make a call to Corona Virus Control Room at 021-99204452, 021-99206565 or 0316-0111712.

The chief minister directed the Karachi commissioner to convert the flats of labour department to isolation centres.

Similarly, the labour department apartments at Nooriabad, Kotri, Hyderabad and Shaheed Banzirabad are being converted to isolation centres. The chief minister released Rs150 million for the purpose.

He directed the Indus Hospital to provide ventilators and other necessary equipments to the new centres.

Published in Dawn, March 16th, 2020