Some 1,500 people in Sindh had travelled to Iran since February 2, and the provincial government had been collecting details about all those people so that they could be confined to their respective houses in isolation and under medical scrutiny.
This was stated by the Chief Minister of Sindh, Syed Murad Ali Shah, at a press conference just after presiding over an emergency meeting here at the Chief Minister's House on Thursday to evolve a strategy on how to combat coronavirus, just a day after two coronavirus cases, one of them in Karachi, had been detected in the country.
Out of the 1,500 people in Sindh who traveled to Iran, around 500 belonged to Karachi, he said.
He also said that the total number of people from all over Pakistan who had traveled to Iran since February 2 was 8,000.
Shah said that the educational institutions in the province were closed for two extra days besides Saturday and Sunday to prevent the children of these 1,500 people who had visited Iran from going to the educational institutions and mixing with other students.
"During these four days the health department would be able to screen them," he said.
"I have also constituted a taskforce under me which will be meeting at 7pm every day to review the situation," the chief minister said.
Meanwhile, the Sindh government had contacted all of the 28 people who had traveled to Iran with the person who had been tested positive on coronovirus in the city on Wednesday, and they were cooperating with the health department, Shah said.
"We have established contact with each and every one of the group and have got their names and phone numbers," he said and added that those 28 people were under scrutiny.
"I am glad that they are voluntarily cooperating with the health department," said the chief minister.
"This support and cooperation is the need of the hour," said Shah.
He said that the parents and a sister of the coronavirus patient had been screened and fortunately no symptoms of the virus were found.
Even then they had been quarantined at a hospital for some more tests as a precautionary measure, said Shah.
To a question, the chief minister said that a hospital in Karachi has been designated for the detection and treatment of coronavirus patients.
"I have requested the Aga Khan Hospital to purchase all the required equipment and medicines for the hospital, and we would pay them for that," he said. He added that their purchases would be the best ones and timely, therefore his government had entrusted the task to the Aga Khan Hospital experts.
Shah urged the media not to disclose the names of the coronavirus patients. "In these cases, confidentiality is most important, but we [the media and social media] have disclosed even the names of the family members of the patient," he said.
To a question, the chief minister said that though the federal government had officially sealed the country's border with Iran, yet "our border is porous, and entry of people could not be stopped easily, therefore, I would talk to the federal government to take necessary measures."
HELPLINE: The chief minister told the media that a 24/7 Control Room-cum-Helpline had been established at the office of the commissioner of Karachi. The phone numbers of the helpline are 021-99203443, 021-9920440, and 0316-0111712.
The health department had also constituted district rapid response teams under district health officers.
Dr Faisal Mahmood of the Aga Khan Hospital told the media about the trajectory of the virus in a patient and the medicines doctors would administer to a coronavirus patient. He added that there was no established treatment for coronavirus so far.
"The patient mostly recovers through the immune system," he said. The doctor said that most of the patients survived, but those who were asthmatic and above 40 years of age and had a weak immune system were vulnerable.
PRESENTATION: Earlier, in the meeting at the Chief Minister's House, Health Secretary Zahid Abbasi gave a presentation to the chief minister
on the origin and status of coronavirus.
WHY TO BE ALERT: China has 78191 cases, Iran 95 cases, UAE 13, India three and Afghanistan one. Therefore, we will have to be alert.
ISOLATION WARDS: Isolation wards have been established in four hospitals of Karachi and in other divisional headquarters hospitals.
A 50-bed hospital in Karachi had been designated as quarantine.
The meeting at the Chief Minister's House was attended among others by Chief Secretary Mumtaz Shah, Minister of Health Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho, Minister for Information Nasir Shah and the Director-General of Rangers, Major-General Omar Ahmed Bukhari.
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