LARKANA: The first victim of Covid-19 died in the district here on Tuesday amidst a continuous surge in positive cases.

With six new infections, the number of positive coronavirus cases shot to 104, including 66 attributed to local transmission.

The 45-year-old male victim (R.A.) was an assistant director in the Sindh Building Control Authority. After contracting the coronavirus, he was home quarantined in OPF Colony where he breathed his last on Tuesday evening. He was a resident of Bhuttan Ji Wandh in Ratodero town.

As precautionary measures, police have sealed the portion of the colony on the Larkana-Naudero road. Already some parts of seven localities — Ali Goharabad, Qafila Serai, Samiabad, Dari, Nawan Tak, Leelabad, Bakrani Road in Larkana — were sealed after emergence of some positive cases there.

A leading paediatrician posted as medical officer in Taluka Headquarter Hospital Ratodero town also tested positive for Covid-19. He is isolating at home. Health managers on Tuesday collected samples of his family members for test, sources said.

The sources on Tuesday said that six new persons, including a journalist, tested positive for the virus were residents of Ghalib Nagar and Sachal Colony.

The trend of emerging positive cases shows that the virus has started infecting the people residing on the banks of Rice Canal. After a positive case was detected in Munawarabad, which is located on the right bank of Rice Canal, three more cases appeared on Tuesday in a family belonging to Sachal Colony located along the same bank.

The orderly of the Larkana SSP has also contracted virus, reports say.

But it is encouraging that two Covid-19 positive patients (a man and his son), residents of Samiabad mohalla, have recovered.

They were kept in the isolation ward at Bibi Aseefa Dental College and allowed to go home on Monday night after their second tests turned out negative.

Reports from Qambar-Shahdadkot said that four positive cases of Covid-19 reported in Shahdadkot town were home-quarantined.

Larkana Press Club president Murtaza Kalhoro has demanded of the Sindh chief minister to direct the Larkana deputy commissioner for carrying out tests of journalists.

Published in Dawn, April 29th, 2020