KARACHI: A judicial officer, who reportedly tested positive for coronavirus, and his staff have been sent on leave to quarantine themselves for the mandatory period and seek treatment if they need it, according to sources.

The sources said on Saturday that a district and sessions’ judge (West) had sent the judicial magistrate concerned on leave after he tested positive for Covid-19.

The staff who were in contact with the judge, including reader, stenographer, driver, guard and peshkar were also advised to get their tests conducted and isolate themselves, said the sources.

The sources said the judge was believed to have contracted the virus from some member of his family, who had already been advised to quarantine themselves.

They said that another judicial officer, who shared chamber with the infected judge, underwent test for the virus and was found to be negative.

Hospital sealed after doctor tests positive for Covid-19

HYDERABAD: Premises of a private hospital-cum-medical college in Tando Mohammad Khan were sealed after a senior doctor tested positive for coronavirus on Saturday.

Indus Hospital and Medical College CEO Dr Iqbal Memon said the 60-year-old doctor had been shifted to an isolation facility after he tested positive for the virus.

“About 100 members of staff including doctors, paramedics, nurses and sanitary workers have been quarantined within the hospital,” he said.

Dr Memon said that district health office would collect samples of all members of staff on Sunday morning and send them to Diagnostic and Research Laboratory in LUMHS.

He said the staff would be allowed to leave the hospital only after tests had been conducted. At present, only three or four female patients were admitted to the hospital requiring gynaecological treatment. “They are completely separate and being taken care of accordingly,” he said.

‘Space identified for field hospitals’

Hyderabad Deputy Comm­issioner Fuad Ghaffar Soomro said that a wide hall at Hyderabad Club and hostel at Sindh Sports Board with capacity for housing 95 and 125 beds, respectively, had been identified for setting up a 500-bed field hospital for Covid-19 patients as per directives of Sindh chief minister.

He told Dawn on Saturday that both the facilities could have around 250 beds and they could further be expanded to have 250 more beds as Sindh Sports Board had a spacious badminton court and gymnasium as well.

“We are going to take possession of the two places and convert them into field hospitals as soon as we get approval from high-ups,” he said.

165 members of Tableeghi Jamaat sent home

DADU: Another batch of 165 out of 204 members of Tableeghi Jamaat were sent off to their home towns on Saturday after they tested negative for Covid-19, said Deputy Commissioner Raja Shahzaman Khuhro.

He said that 10 Jamaat members had tested positive for the virus and shifted to quarantine centre at Hepatitis Centre. Test results of nine Jamaat members were still awaited, he said.

Meanwhile, Dr Moeenuddin Siddiqi, director of Institute of Syed Abdullah Shah Medical and Health Sciences, said on Saturday that a woman and her brother had tested positive for coronavirus in Sehwan.

He said the two had travelled to Karachi to visit their brother, a doctor who had contracted the virus, and they carried the contagion with them to Sehwan. The patients had been quarantined at isolation ward in the institute, he said.

BADIN: As many as 77 members of Tableeghi Jamaat, who were quarantined in several seminaries and mosques in the district, left for their home towns on Saturday after they tested negative for the coronavirus.

The district’s additional deputy commissioner Dr Ali Nawaz Bhoot said that the health officials had again screened Jamaat members before their departure.

Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2020