Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has allowed 640 COVID-19 negative pilgrims housed at Labour Colony Sukkur to return to their respective homes but made them bound to follow the SOP they have been given. He took this decision in 27th meeting of Task Force on Coronavirus here at CM House on Tuesday. The meeting was attended by provincial ministers, advisor law, chief secretary, IG Sindh, PSCM, Home secretary, representatives of Corps 5, Rangers, Pakistan Navy, FIA, Airport, Civil Aviation and WHO.
The health department on the instruction of the chief minister has started corona-case mapping. The map shows that three cases are in Gadap, 15 in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, 9 in Gulberg, nine in Jamshed Town, seven in Liaquatabad, four in Malir, 10 in Nazimabad, three in North Karachi, one in Orangi and 41 in Saddar Town.
In this way out of 143 cases, the mapping of 122 cases has been made. The chief minister directed the health department to share the mapping data with deputy commissioners so that they could take necessary measures to contain it within limited areas.
Commissioner Sukkur Shafiq Mahesar through video link told the chief minister that there were 640 pilgrims who have been tested thrice and every time their test results were declared as negative. At this the chief minister directed the commissioner Sukkur to arrange special buses and send the 640 coronavirus negative pilgrims to their respective homes/districts.
"I would suggest you SOP under which they will have to stay in self-isolation at their respective homes for next 10 days. The commissioner Sukkur and his team must have the out-going pilgrims mobile numbers and addresses and keep them tracking for next 10 days by inquiring after their health," he said.
The chief minister directed the official to issue directive to the deputy commissioners of the district where these 640 pilgrims were going and direct them to receive them.
"Make the deputy commissioners responsible to keep tracking the pilgrims for next 10 days," he said. Shah congratulated the out-going pilgrims and their families and hoped that in the interest of their family members' health and the health of their friends and neighbors they would voluntarily stay home for at least 10 days. "I am quite happy that a great burden on the shoulders of the government is dropping," he said
410 COVID-19 cases: The chief minister was told that the number of Coronavirus-infected cases in Sindh has reached 410 in which 143 were in Karachi, 265 pilgrims and two of other districts. The number of local transmissions in the city has also reached 91.
The chief minister was told that 4041 samples, including 2443 of Karachi, 168 of other districts and 1430 of pilgrims were tested. The result shows that 143 of Karachi, two of other districts and 265 of pilgrims have been diagnosed as positive. Some 485 results, including 83 of Karachi, 93 of other districts and 309 of pilgrims are pending.
It may be noted that 796 are under treatment at Sukkur-1, 303 Sukkur -II, 83 Larkana, 98 at Malir and 104 in home isolation. Presenting daily report, the chief minister was told that Sindh government hospitals have reported 1874 pneumonia cases, of them 251 have been tested while the private hospitals reported 702 cases and 21 of them have also been tested.
Sampling Arrangement: The chief minister in his last meeting had directed the health departments to improve sampling arrangements at home. The health department told the chief minister that 18 mobile clinic vehicles of Indus hospital have been made available to collect the samples.
Lockdown: The chief minister said that the lockdown needed to be made more strict. "People are still moving here and there without any restrictions. This was not the objective of imposing the lockdown," he said. He directed IG Sindh to adopt strict measures not allowing anyone to roam about in the city.
COVID-19 test machine: The chief minister was told that Wuhan institute of Virology, China, has invented a machine for testing samples of COVID-19. The machine accepts the swabs of the throat while prevailing system accepts swabs of nose. The chief minister directed his principle secretary to sit with Dr Faisal and Dr Bari to decide whether the machine was fit for Pakistan or not.
"If the decision is taken in favour of procuring the machine then place an order for 100 machines," he said. The chief minister said he would request the federal government to send a special plane to China to bring the machine to Sindh.