KARACHI:Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said on Monday that coronavirus had hit new highs by claiming 74 more lives and lifting the death toll to 1,343 while 1,539 new cases emerged when 8,464 samples were tested across Sindh.
In a statement issued here from the CM House, Shah said that overnight 74 more patients died, lifting the death toll to 1,343. “This is the highest figure so far since the first death stemming from COVID-19 reported on March 19,” he said and added that he was saddened to disclose that the death rate had increased from 1.5 to 1.6 percent and expressed condolence with the bereaved families.
The CM said that 8,464 samples were tested against which 1,539 new cases of corona were detected that constituted 19.6 percent detection rate. The government had conducted so far 44,3757 tests which detected 81,985 cases, of them 45,616 patients had recovered, including 1,093 overnight. “The recovery rate comes to 55.6 percent which is quite encouraging,” he said.
According to CM, currently, there are 35,026 patients under the treatment, of them 33,482 are at home isolation, 88 at isolation centers and 1,456 at different hospitals. Shah said that currently, 660 patients were in critical condition, of them 92 had been shifted onto the ventilators.
Giving district-wise break-up of the cases, Shah said that out of 1,539 new cases, Karachi had 689. He said East had 252, South 175, Central 107, Malir 62, West 49 and Korangi 44. He added that Hyderabad had 93 new cases, Ghotki 76, Sukkur 74, Mirpurkhas 34, Khairpur 34, Tando Allahyar 32, Sanghar 23, Shaheed Benazirabad 23, Jacobabad 28, Larkana 22, Kambar 19, Shikarpur 19, Dadu 13, Umerkot 12, Badin and Naushehro Feroze nine each, Sujawal six, Tando M Khan five, Thatta four, and Kashmore and Matiari have one each. The chief minister urged the people of Sindh to abide by SOPs so that the pandemic could be contained.