Number of cases in Sindh rises to 103: Situation emerging in Karachi 'dangerous': CM

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that the number of novel coronavirous cases in Sindh have reached 103, including 76 cases of Sukkur/Taftan and 27 of Karachi. "I am not worried about the 76 cases of Sukkur because the pilgrims are living in a proper isolation, but the dangerous thing is emerging in Karachi where more than eight cases of contacts have emerged."

He said this on Monday while addressing a press conference and interacting with parliamentarians of different political parties here at the CM House.

The chief minister urged the people of the province to avoid social gatherings. "You have to adopt voluntary isolation. This is the only solution to contain the coronavous," he said. Meanwhile, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah through a video link at the CM House spoke to Prime Minister Imran Khan. The chief minister briefed the prime minister about the measures his government had taken to contain the coronavirous.

The chief minister, reacting to a report presented by the commissioner of Karachi, said that people were still thronging at restaurants, hotels and cafes. "This is not acceptable, and I request the people to adopt self-isolation. Otherwise I would have no option but to close restaurants, hotels, cafes and other such facilities," he said.

Shah told the police and the administration to work out a plan to control crowds, otherwise give notice to restaurants and hotels to close by 9pm.

"I'll take final decisions very soon," he said. The chief minister said that 157 samples of Sukkur/Taftan were tested, of them 76 have been diagnosed as positive. The health department conducted 392 tests of which 27 have been declared as positive.

Giving details of the cases, the chief minister said that 9 cases have had travel history of Syria, three of Dubai, four of Iran, eight local transmissions, one Qatar and two have history of Saudi Arabia.

He said that Saudi Arabian cases had 17 contacts, of them three were tested as positive. Apart from local cases, there were 13 severe pneumonia cases which have been sent for lab tests.

The chief minister said that eight contact cases were dangerous and "we all have to understand the severity of the situation. Coronavirous spreads through contacts, and we all would have to adopt voluntary isolation," he added.

The chief minister said that some 37 flights were scheduled yesterday, of them eight were cancelled and 5,112 passengers arrived and were screened. Of them nine were kept in quarantine as suspects. Their samples have been sent for tests.

Shah urged the people of Karachi, Hyderabad and other densely populated cities and towns of the province to keep themselves isolated from each other and to keep washing their hands a number of times.

Replying to a question about lockdown, the chief minister said grocery shops, super stores, vegetable shops, chicken and mutton shops would not be closed.

"I am surprised that under the rumour of a lockdown people have started stocking up groceries," he said and told the people that they had no need of stocking up groceries. "Neither would we allow hoardings nor closing of shops," he said.

To a question, Shah said that there were testing facilities at the Aga Khan University Hospital, Ojha and Indus hospitals. "We are testing only those who have travel history and contacts of the travelers free of cost," he said and added those who wanted to get them tested could do so at their own expenses.

Task Force Meeting: The chief minister while presiding over the 19th Task Force meeting on coronavirous directed the commissioner of Sukkur to make effective arrangements for the 76 patients of coronavirous.

The commissioner said that he has developed a separate block for the newly diagnosed patients and they all were cooperating with the medical team.

The chief minister was told that some of the doctors were reluctant to go into the Isolation center, but when a team of doctors who the chief minister had dispatched to Sukkur met them and briefed them about the precautions they voluntarily started working.

The chief minister also directed the commissioner to make arrangements for the other batch of over 600 pilgrims coming from Taftan tomorrow.

The commissioner of Karachi told the chief minister that during the last nine days his control center had received 477 calls on the helpline numbers. His helpline has also received another 110 messages on whatsapp. Those who had travel history were guided properly for medical treatment.

The chief minister directed the commissioner of Karachi and the IG of Police to start raids on the shops and warehouses which had hoarded sanitizers, hand wash and tissue papers and put them behind the bars. "This cannot be tolerated. Take strict action against the culprits," he ordered.

Meeting with parliamentarians: The chief minister also held a meeting with the parliamentarian of different political parties of Sindh Assembly and took them into confidence about the steps he had taken so far to contain the coronavirous.