365 cases of six types of Coronavirus including 95 of UK variant, 162 of South Africa, 29 Brazilian, 66 Indian, three P.1 (501Y.V.3), and one Wild type were detected upto July 12 in Sindh
Karachi: In view of the increase in Coronavirus cases in the province, particularly in Karachi, the Sindh government has decided to close all recreational places, including indoor dining and sports activities and schools from class one to 8th and warned to take more strict actions if the SOPs were not followed in true letter and spirit.
Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah took these decisions while presiding over a meeting of the Provincial Task Force on Coronavirus here at CM House on Wednesday.
The meeting was attended by Provincial Ministers, Nasir Shah, Ikram Dharejo, Advisor Law Murtaza Wahab, Parliamentary Secretary Health Qasim Siraj Soomro, Chief Secretary Mumtaz Shah, IG Police Mushtaq Maher, ACS Home Qazi Shahid Parvez, Commissioner Karachi Naveed Shaikh, Secretary Finance Hassan Naqvi, Secretary School Education Ahmed Bux Narejo, Secretary Health Kazim Jatoi, VC Dow University Prof. Saeed Qureshi, Dr. Qaiser, Dr. Sara of WHO, representatives of Corps -5 and Rangers and other concerned.
The chief minister was told that overall detection ratio of COVID-19 has reached 7.4 percent in the province and in Karachi it has been recorded at 17.11 percent on July 13.
Murad Shah said that on July 7 the detection rate in Karachi was 11.98 percent and within seven days it reached 17.11 percent on July 13. “The situation is going from bad to worse and would turn worse if necessary measures are not taken,” he said.
Secretary Health Kazim Jatoi told the chief minister that 365 cases of six types of Coronavirus have been detected in the province, of them 95 of UK variant, 162 of South Africa, 29 Brazilian, 66 Indian, three P.1 (501Y.V.3), and one Wild type were detected upto July 12, 2021.
It was pointed out that in July 143 patients of COVID-19 have died, of them 98 or 69 percent on ventilators, 29 or 20 percent off vent and 16 or 11 percent at home.
The meeting was told that in the first wave starting from March 1, 2020 Sindh had a peak of 3038 cases, the peak of the second wave was 1983, the third wave had a peak of 2,076 cases and the fourth on-going wave has so far shown a peak of 1210 cases.
Keeping in view the situation, the chief minister decided to close indoor dining, schools from class- One to eight, all recreational places, including water parks, sea view, Hawks bay, Keenjhar, swimming pools, cinemas and indoor gyms from Monday. However, the schools where examinations were in progress would function as per their routine.
The chief minister said that on next Monday he would review the situation once again and may take more strict measures, if SOPs are not followed.
The chief minister was told that 5,870,997 doses of COVID vaccine have been received, of them 4,465,908 have been utilized. Shah urged the health department to accelerate its vaccination drive.
A separate press statement on daily cases said that as many as 26 more patients of Coronavirus died overnight lifting the death toll to 5,647 and 1,420 new cases emerged when 16,528 tests were conducted. The death rate constituted 1.6 percent.
Currently 26,546 patients were under treatment of them 25,604 were in home isolation, 877 at different hospitals and 65 patients in Isolation Centers. The condition of 817 patients was stated to be critical, including 61 shifted to ventilators.
According to the statement, out of 1,420 new cases, 1134 have been detected from Karachi, including 334 from East, 275 Central, 235 South, 123 Korangi, 91 Malir and 76 West. Hyderabad has 60, Sukkur 33, Jamshoro 26, Shaheed Benazirabad 24, Tharparkar 14, Thatta and Nausheroferoze 12 each, Badin, Sujawal, Tando Allahyar and Mirpurkhas 11 each, Sanghar 10, Matiari 9, Umerkot 7, Ghotki 3, Dadu and Larkana 2 each, Kashmore and Shikarpur 1 each. (PR)
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