HYDERABAD: The first Covid-19 patient, who had received plasma therapy, has fully recovered at isolation ward in Liaquat University Hospital (LUH) and is ready to be discharged as 62 more people tested positive for coronavirus in Larkana and one retired army man was found to have the contagion in Umerkot on Thursday.

The patient whose successful recovery has kindled hope in other critically ill Covid-19 patients was donated the plasma by a cured patient on May 3. “The patient’s first sample was taken on May 13 and then another was collected on May 14 and both Alhamdolillah turned out to be negative. We are now in the process of discharging him from Covid-9 isolation ward. But he will have to stay in the hospital’s medicine intensive care unit (ICU) in view of his co-morbidities,” said LUH focal person for Covid-19 Dr Aftab Hussain Phull on Thursday.

After having recovered the patient has become the first to successfully receive plasma therapy in LUH after its clinical trial was approved by Sindh government in April as a part of passive immunisation suggested by noted hematologist Dr Tahir Shamsi.

“After convalescent plasma therapy on May 3 under government permission for clinical trial on experimental basis the patient’s condition had improved considerably, otherwise he had been serious,” said Dr Aftab.

Two more patients were to be administered the plasma but one of them, died on Wednesday night at LUH isolation ward before being able to get the plasma while the other, a 62-year-old woman from Naushahro Feroze, was being administered the plasma at LUH.

Over 60 more contract virus in Larkana alone

LARKANA: As many as 62 people tested positive for coronavirus on Thursday, raising the total number of patients to 273 in the district, according to Covid-19 control room. Unfortunately, 30 of them reported in Khichi mohalla locality after six mysterious deaths occurred in the area one after another prompting the district administration and the health department to collect bulk samples.

Subsequently 105 samples were taken and of them 30 tested positive for Covid-19. The locality had already been sealed before collecting the samples. It had become the second hotspot for the virus after Dari and Nawantak localities in the city, said health officials.

Meanwhile, a Covid-19 patient at the isolation centre in Bibi Aseefa Dental College tested negative for the virus on Thursday in his fourth test.

SUKKUR: Eight more persons tested positive for the contagion in Kandhkot-Kashmore district, raising the tally of coronavirus patients to 34.

The health officials told reporters that the new patients were cases of local transmission, who included one man from Kandhkot and seven from Ghouspur.

According to health officials the rise in cases was local transmission of coronavirus was a direct result of sudden relaxation in social distancing as people were busy in shopping in the city without wearing safety masks or maintaining social distance while shopkeepers also failed to implement the SOPs.

UMERKOT: A retired army man who had just returned home tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday after which samples of 17 members of his family were also collected, according to health officials.

The army man had returned home in Soofi Ahmed Ali Dadhro village near Kunri town from Peshawar five days ago and voluntarily sent his sample to Aga Khan laboratory as a precautionary measure.

He received the test report on Thursday which declared him positive for the virus and informed health department. Soon, a team arrived at his home and shifted him to a quarantine centre after collecting samples of his 17 family members.

SHIKARPUR: A suspected Covid-19 patient who was a local journalist passed away on Thursday.

The senior journalist and former president of Garhiyasin Press Club and reporter of a Sindhi newspaper was suspected to have the contagion. He had difficulty in breathing for the past two days and opted for coronavirus test a day before whose report had not been received till yet, said sources.

Officials of police and administration took into custody the journalist’s body for ensuring his burial as per SOPs for Covid-19.

Local journalists and office-bearers and members of Shikarpur Press Club and other media organisations offered condolence to the bereaved family.

MIRPURKHAS: A man tested positive for Covid-19 here on Thursday, raising the number of patients in the district to 25.

Published in Dawn, May 15th, 2020