Virus penetrates Karachi slums

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that despite his serious efforts and strict containment policy, the coronavirus has finally penetrated into the slums because the slum dwellers failed to maintain social distancing as was advised by experts.

This he said in his video message released from the Chief Minister's House on Thursday.

He said that he had been anticipating in horror the day the virus penetrated the slum areas because the slum dwellers were living in small houses with large families.

"I am sorry my apprehensions came true, and a family of seven living in a katchi abadi of district central has gotten infected.

"The head of the family went outside, got himself infected and brought the virus back to his home. Now all of his seven family members, including a one-year-old son and a six-year-old daughter, have been diagnosed as coronavirus positive," he said.

Shah urged the people of the slums to get rations or cash when they were distributed in their areas and avoid crowding around, or "you will not only be infected but would carry the virus back to your home and get your family members infected".

COVID-19 status: The chief minister said that during the last 24 hours 92 new cases of the coronavirus were detected while one patient died during the same period.

The death toll reached 21 on Thursday, he said.

Disclosing his three-pronged strategy - isolation, testing and critical care - he said that the 1,380 pilgrims who returned from Iran in four batches were kept in isolation. Of them, 280 were found infected.

He added that they were provided proper care in isolation at Sukkur and 242 patients recovered and returned to their respective homes.

Now only 38 returnee pilgrims were left at Sukkur and after their recovery they too would be sent to their homes.

Shah said that his government had conducted 11,623 tests until Thursday morning against which 1,128 were diagnosed as positive, including 92 new cases.

He added that at present 436 patients were in home isolation, 59 in isolation centers and 263 in different district hospitals.

Lockdown: The chief minister said that when the lockdown was lifted life would not be the same.

"The government will issue new SOPs for every sector under which they will have to operate," he said and added the people would have to lead a different life based on personal care and care of their family members and others.

He hinted that the lockdown would not be lifted at once, but that it would be eased out in phases. All the business centers, factories and shopping centers would have to adopt protective measures for them and their workers.

"We are not living on an island, but we live in a land where people come from other cities, provinces and countries and vice versa. Therefore social distancing from each other is the only tool to keep ourselves safe and secure," he said.

Contradiction: Shah in his message also contradicted a news item that three people died due to hunger which appeared in different newspapers.

He said that the news was incorrect and not based on facts.