KARACHI: Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah decided on Thursday to continue the ongoing restrictions and Covid-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs) and said that the situation would be reviewed again on Monday.

Presiding over a meeting of the Provincial Task Force on Coronavirus at Chief Minister House, he thanked the people of the province for their cooperation and support during the ongoing restrictions and said that the ratio of the cases had dropped from 8.63 per cent to 6.8pc.

“If this support of the people is continued with the same spirit, we will be able to contain the virus further in the province,” he said.

The meeting was attended by Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho and other relevant stakeholders.

The chief minister was told that in the first week after Eidul Fitr (May 15 to 21), the infectivity rate was recorded at 8.63pc and fatality rate at 1.18pc. In the second week after Eid (May 22 to 26), the infectivity rate dropped to 6.87pc and the death rate to 0.9pc.

Rate of cases dropped from 8.63pc to 6.8pc; people urged to continue cooperating with the govt

The CM said that the Covid-19 restrictions had started producing encouraging results. “The credit goes to the people who cooperated with the government, abided by the SOPs and the restrictions imposed by the government, therefore, the infectivity and fatality rates have come down,” he said, urging the people of the province to keep extending similar cooperation so that the situation could be controlled.

The meeting was told that on Eidul Fitr 2020, the festival was celebrated on May 24, 2020 and on that day there were 846 cases, or 15pc detection rate, and within 15 days, up to June 11, 2020, the number of cases increased to 3,038 and the detection ratio was recorded at 30pc. The reason for that spike in the cases was the result of avoiding SOPs.

He said that it was the reason that he had taken some strict actions on Eidul Fitr, 2021 and “Alhamdulillah, our measures have proved to be fruitful”.

On May 20, 2021, the infectivity rate in Karachi was 12.86pc and in Hyderabad it was 10.11pc, and on May 26 it came down to 8.34pc in Karachi and 4.42pc in Hyderabad. In the month, till May 26, some 307 Covid-19 patients died; of them 24, or 66pc, were on ventilators, 60, or 20pc, off ventilators and 43, or 14pc, were at home.

It was noted that during the last 23 days (May 1 to 23), Karachi East had 24pc cases, South 17pc, Central 12pc, West 11pc and Hyderabad 11pc.

The meeting was told that till May 25, around 21,618 passengers had landed at Karachi airport and all of them were tested. As a result, 50 passengers were diagnosed as Covid positive. Out of them, 26 had recovered.

At present 66 patients, including 63 in Karachi, are in critical care and 618 patients, including 496 in Karachi, are on oxygen.

The chief minister urged the people to get themselves vaccinated. “It is very important to be safe and secure, otherwise we will not be able to contain the virus here,” he said.

22 more die in Sindh

As many as 22 more patients of the coronavirus died overnight and 1,099 new cases emerged when 14,529 tests were conducted in Sindh.

This was stated by the chief minister in a statement issued here on Thursday.

He said that the death of 22 more patients lifted the death toll to 4,988 that constituted a 1.6pc death rate.

Mr Shah said that 14,529 samples were tested which detected 1,099 cases that constituted a 7.6pc detection rate.

He said that so far 4,046,463 tests had been conducted against which 314,141 cases were diagnosed; of them 90.8pc, or 285,403 patients recovered, including 708 overnight.

The CM said that currently 23,750 patients were under treatment; of them 22,759 were in home isolation, 22 at the isolation centres and 969 at different hospitals.

He said the condition of 909 patients was stated to be critical, including 71 shifted to ventilators.

According to the chief minister, out of the 1,099 new cases, 561 had been detected in Karachi — 169 East, 138 in South, 136 in Central, 47 in Malir, 36 in Korangi and 35 in West.

He said that Hyderabad had 90 fresh cases, Jamshoro 45, Jacobabad 28, Shaheed Benazirabad 23, Khairpur and Sukkur 21 each, Naushahro Feroze 19, Dadu 17, Ghotki 16, Matiari and Tando Mohammad Khan 15 each, Mirpurkhas and Thatta 14 each, Umerkot 13, Kashmore 11, Tando Allahyar nine, Shikarpur eight, Sanghar seven, Badin and Larkana five each, Tharparkar two and Qambar one.

Published in Dawn, May 28th, 2021