By Mukhtar Alam:

Sindh reported five more deaths due to COVID-19 which is spreading fast across the province where, according to health authorities, 227 new cases of the lethal virus infection were also confirmed on April 20. According to health department’s data on coronavirus, the disease has spread to 27 districts including Kashmore and Mirpurkhas which reported for the first time any COVID-19 infection among their residents

All the five deaths occurred at the public sector hospitals in Karachi, pushing the C0VID-19 death toll to 61 in the province. The ages of the five lately deceased patients was given as 65, 62, 45, 70 and 70 years, respectively, while a total 30 people lost their lives in last seven days.

Karachi, comprising of six districts, with its overall 1,690 infection cases, topped the districts infected with coronavirus in Sindh. Karachi reported 156 new cases, followed by Khairpur (33 new cases), Tando Mohammad Khan (8), Jacobabad (8), Hyderabad (7), Shaheed Benazirabad (6), Kashmore (4), Mirpurkhas (2), Larkana (2) and Badin (1). As per the official data, the district-wise total COVID-19 cases remained as Karachi (1,690), Sukkur (341), Hyderabad (204), Khairpur (138), Ghotki (120), Shaheed Benazirabad (65), Larkana (65), Tando Mohammad Khan (28), Naushehro Feroze (19), Sanghar (16), Jamshoro (13), Dadu (12), Jacobbad (11), Sujawal (7), Tando Allahyar (6), Thatta (5), Shikarpur (5), Badin (5), Tharparkar (4), Kashmore (4), Umerkot (2) and Mirpurkhas (2).

In the meantime, the Sindh Chief Minister, Syed Murad Ali Shah, in a video message on April 20, updated that 2, 068 patients were under treatment, including 1,223 at their homes, 547 at isolation centres and 298 at different hospitals. Of the total COVID-19 infected persons, there were 2,065 men and 699 women.

Sharing the corona data, the Chief Minister further said that 4,955 of the tableeghi jamat members were tested, out of which 658 were found positive, while the laboratory test results of 161 were awaited.

The break-up of tableeghi jamat members mentioned Hyderabad (158), Jamshoro (10), Badin (2), Tando Mohammad Khan (13), Tando Allahyar (6), Thatta (3), Dadu (10), Sujawal (7), Mirpurkhas (4), Umerkot (1), Shaheed Benazirabad (4), Sanghar (14), Naushehro Feroze (19), Sukkur (67), Khairpur (114), Ghotki (116), Larkana (37), Kashmore (4), Jacobabad (8) and Shikarpur (3).

About local transmission of virus at Karachi, it was disclosed that district South had produced maximum of 68 cases while East (65), Central (31), Korangi (23), West (5) and Malir (4) were also affected with the pandemic.

The Chief Minister reckoned that the situation was far from ideal and required some strict and proactive measures to contain the coronavirus and stop its further.