Sindh ramps up testing amid rising number of coronavirus infections: Shah

The Sindh government has ramped up testing amid a rising number of infections in the province, with the chief minister expressing concern over the fact that most cases are local transmissions.

The highest number of tests yet — 7,547 — were conducted in the last 24 hours against which 1,824 (24.2%) were diagnosed positive.

“Whenever, we have conducted more tests, we have detected more cases — it means local transmission has spread throughout the province of Sindh,” Shah said, according to a statement by the Chief Minister House on Wednesday.

So far, the government has tested 200,093 samples of which 32,910 case were diagnosed positive, which translates to 16.5% of total tests conducted.

Shah, according to the statement, said that 29 more patients of coronavirus died in the past day, bumping up the grim total to 555 — 1.6% of the total cases.

Currently, 16,333 patients are under treatment in the province. Of these, 15,070 are isolating at home, 111 are at isolation centres and 1,152 at various hospitals.

"367 patients are in critical condition, of which 56 have been put on ventilators,” said the chief minister.

According to Shah, 487 patients recovered in the last 24 hours and "returned to their normal life". With this, the total number of recoveries reached 16,022, which constitutes 49% of cases.

He said that out of 1,824 cases recorded in the past 24 hours, 1,284 belong to Karachi. This includes 323 in district East, 299 in district South, 256 in district Central, 227 in district Korangi, 120 in district Malir and 59 in district West.

Among other districts in the province, Hyderabad has 73 new cases, Ghotki 36, Shikarpur 24, Jasmhoro and Kashmore 13 each, Qambar-Shahdadkot 10, Khairpur and Dadu nine each, Mirpurkhas and Sujawal eight each, Jacobabad seven, Nawabshah and Badin four each, and Sanghar has three.

The chief minister warned people to be more cautious now that the lockdown has been eased further and public transport permitted.

PIA plane crash

Speaking of the identification of bodies from the PIA plane crash, the chief minister said that 89 bodies identified so far have been handed to over to their heirs. He added that out of 89 bodies, 53 have been identified through DNA.

At present, eight bodies, including two at Chhipa and six at Edhi, have been kept in mortuaries. Three DNA samples are yet to be cross-matched.