KARACHI: After a dip for a day, the Sindh COVID-19 death toll hit a new all days’ highest of 19 on May 19 when the provincial health authorities witnessed a drop of over 150 cases in daily tally of new infections caused by the lethal virus.

Deaths from the epidemic in Sindh had fallen to three on May 18, against nine the day before and 18 on May 12, the highest one day toll since the outbreak was confirmed on February 26 this year in the province.

As per the daily COVID-19 updates given by the Sindh health department, new cases dipped to 706 from 864 on May 18 against 787 on May 17.

The latest fatalities occurred in Karachi (14), Shikarpur (2) and Thatta (1) in addition to two more deaths among Pakistanis returning infected with the viral from abroad but not resident of Sindh, pushing the overall tally of coronavirus deaths to 299 for the province.

The two deceased stranded Pakistanis, including a woman, were aged 15 and 70 years respectively.

At Karachi 10 men aged from 48 to 86 and four women aged from 55 to 71 years lost their lives but the health authorities neither provided their hospitalization history nor details about isolation at home of some of the deceased.

Another two COVID-19 patients, aged 52 and 60 years, respectively died at Shikarpur, while an 80-year-old woman lost her life at Thatta.

In the meantime, according to another COVID-19 report, updated on May 19, as many as 11 patients died at various hospitals, including AKUH, JPMC, Indus Hospital, CHK, SIUT and DUHS Ojha.

During the last 24 hours ending at 8 am on May 19, Karachi reported 608 new infections, followed by Hyderabad (20), Larkana (16), Kambar Shahdadkot (12), Jamshoro (10), Sukkur (6), Shikarpur (6), Khairpur (5), Jacobabad (4), Sanghar 93), Mirpurkhas (3), Ghotki (2), Dadu (2), Kashmore (2) while Badin and Tando Allahyar reported one new case each.

The department summary revealed that as many as 4,741 recovered from the disease so far, including 252 who were discharged from hospitals on May 18, out of 17,947 confirmed cases in Sindh.

It was learnt that 15 COVID-19 testing laboratories functioning in the public and private sectors collectively detected 945 positive cases, out of 3,803 samples.

On the other hand, the Pakistan Medical Association leaders, including Dr Qaiser Sajjad, Dr Ikram Ahmed Tunio, Dr Salma Aslam Kundi, Dr Ashraf Nizami and others, after a meeting, observed that the relaxation of the COVID-19 lockdown will definitely increase the burden of the disease.

The meeting noted that doctors, nurses and paramedics, who were fighting against coronavirus at the risk of their lives, were very much distressed of the coronavirus situation. “More than 1,100 healthcare workers have been infected with coronavirus, while 12 doctors have died so far.”

The doctors’ leaders requested the general public to take care of themselves at their own and adopt preventive measure, particularly no hugging or handshaking in Eid days–PNFS