LARKANA: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Tuesday said his government had decided to increase the number of testing facilities for Covid-19 in the province. He announced that such a laboratory would be established in Larkana soon.

Mr Shah was speaking at a press conference in the office of the Larkana deputy commissioner after holding meetings with district administration officials and interacting with Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari over video link. His senior adviser Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, Information Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah, Irrigation Minister Sohail Anwar Siyal, political secretary to the party chairman Jameel Soomro and others were accompanying the chief minister.

He said his government had not sought financial assistance [to combat the virus outbreak] from the federal government because it [the latter] was also passing through a very difficult phase.

Responding to a question, he said the centre had not extended additional financial support to Sindh. Whenever loans would be rescheduled, we would look into it, he added. In reply to another question, the CM said: “We are on one page with the centre; and if anything goes wrong, it should be corrected ... the priority should be for benefit of people.”

He said people should not be allowed to crowd the places where financial assistance was being disbursed. “We are with the federal government in all conditions ... but it doesn’t mean that we are trying to make political mileage,” he said.

Mr Shah thanked ulema for their cooperation and said Ramazan was approaching and the need was to implement the SOPs evolved for the month. “Our priority is to maximally serve the masses,” he said.

Covid-19 figures in Sindh

CM Shah told the media that 289 new coronavirus cases had emerged in the province and five such patients had lost their lives [over the last 24 hours].

Giving details, he said that 2,764 tests were conducted and 289 of them turned out to be positive. So far, 28,249 tests had been conducted. “I am sorry to share the news that five more people lost their lives during last 24 hours while struggling against coronavirus infection. The death toll stemming from the infection in the province has now risen to 66, which is 2.1pc of the total patients,” he said.

Mr Shah said that 30 more patients got cured on Tuesday and they returned to their homes. “In this way, the number of patients who recovered from the virus is 665 which is 22pc of the total cases,” he said. While the recovery ratio was encouraging, the death ratio was saddening, he remarked.

Sharing further details of the 289 new cases, the CM said 11 of them hailed from Larkana district, six from Badin, one from Dadu, 12 from Hyderabad, 25 from Khairpur, two from Shaheed Benazirabad, two from Sujawal and one hailed from Sukkur district.

He said that in Karachi, 201 new cases had emerged and out of them 19 were reported in district Central, 13 in East, three in Korangi, 46 in Malir, 87 in South and 15 in district West.

Mr Shah said that out of 2,322 under-treatment patients, 1,412 were in home isolation, 597 were at isolation centres and 313 in different hospitals of the province. Talking about members of the Tableeghi Jamaat, the he said they were 4,978 and all of them were tested.

Video conference

During the video conference, PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and CM Murad Ali Shah were informed that 1,383 pilgrims from Iran, Saudi Arabia and others had returned to Pakistan and of them 1,257 who belonged to Larkana district were traced. Others had proceeded to their respective areas in different parts of the country.

They were further informed that 663 tests were conducted and 63 of them were diagnosed Covid-19 positive. Out of the 63, 17 patients were kept in home isolation, 33 at Tableeghi Jamaat Markaz and five were shifted to a hospital in Larkana, he said.

At Tableeghi Jamaat Markaz, there were 323 people kept in isolation and results of their tests suggested that 35 of them were virus positive. The rest were allowed to go home.

The conference was told that 83 people were kept in Larkana quarantine centre and 79 of them had already been discharged. The remaining four positive cases were shifted to the Bibi Aseefa Dental College where a 250-bed facility was available.

It noted that cases of local transmission had emerged in two areas — Dari and Nawa Tak — of Larkana city.

Ration distribution

The conference was informed that the Sindh government had set a target of 18,000 ration bags to be distributed among deserving families. As of now, 13,653 bags have been distributed.

The Larkana DC told the conference that record of each and every beneficiary had been kept.

Earlier, the chief minister drove through various areas of the city to inspect compliance of lockdown. On the way, he stopped a police van with eight people on board. He got them to disembark and directed them to ensure social distancing.

Separately, participating in the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) meeting presided over by Federal Minister Asad Umar on Tuesday, CM Shah urged provinces to properly certify people while allowing them to travel onward, Our Staff Reporter at Karachi adds.

CM Shah said that the Sindh chief secretary and health department would also have access to the data. He also shared the status of coronavirus in Sindh and discussed the measures he had taken so far to check the outbreak.

He noted that three members of the Tableeghi Jamaat had just returned to their home town, Tando Mohammed Khan, from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with recovery certificate issued to them by the KP government. “All the three possessed recovery certificate but when they were tested here, they were found coronavirus positive. This is something serious and must be addressed accordingly,” he stressed.

The KP government assured the chief minister that there would be no such mistake in future, and added that an inquiry would be held to ascertain how they were given the certificates.

The meeting agreed to link NCOC, Islamabad, with the national digital one-line integration system from where it would be connected with provincial task forces, headed by chief ministers.

The system would have a dashboard where relevant notifications, quarantine facilities’ data, number of patients, number of suspected patients, samples taken for tests, admission in isolation centres, home isolation and hospitalisation, lab facilities and their performance data would be updated on a regular basis.

Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2020