The Sindh government has established the largest bio-safety level III (BSL-III) laboratory at the International Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences at the University of Karachi which has a capacity of conducting 2,400 tests per day. This was disclosed by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah through a video message released on Thursday from the CM House.

He said that the national Institute of Virology, known as the International Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences at the University of Karachi, has been transformed into a COVID-19 testing facility.

For the purpose, BSL-III had been completed and equipped with testing machines and trained staff, he said and added that the initial capacity of the lab was testing 800 samples per day and within three weeks the capacity of the lab would be enhanced to 2,400 tests per day.

The chief minister said that RNA extraction and RT-PCR kits were being provided to Prof. Dr Iqbal Choudhry, the director of the center, for staring tests.

"This is not only big news but good news and finally the government has established the largest testing facility in the public sector," he said.

COVID-19 data: Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said that for the second consecutive day Karachi produced more coronavirus cases. The situation demanded some drastic measures,

The chief minister said that 298 cases of coronavirus emerged on Thursday when 3,373 people were tested.

"Out of the 298 cases, 202 cases belonged to Karachi, and the worst affected districts of the city are South, Central, Malir, East and Korangi," he said.

He said that on Thursday four more patients succumbed to COVID-19 infection and the death toll had reached 73 which was 1.98 percent of the total number of cases.

He said that 2,934 patients were under treatment. Of them, 1,871 were in home isolation, 649 at the isolation centres and 423 in different hospitals.

Talking about the situation in Karachi, Shah said that 67 cases were detected in South, 79 in Malir, 29 in Central, 25 in East, 19 in Korangi and six in West.

Other districts: Badin has 11 cases with two new cases, Dadu has 14 with two new cases, Ghotki has 122 with one new case, Hyderabad has 231 and no new case, Jacobabad has nine cases with no new case, Jamshoro has 14 cases with no new case, Qambar-Shahdadkot has only one case.

Khairpur has 166 cases with one new case, Larkana 86 with 11 new cases, Matiari has only one case.

Mirtpurkhas has six cases, Naushehroferoze 19 with five new cases, Sanghar 19 with one new case, Shaheed Benazirabad 82 with 10 new cases, Shikarpur has only six cases. Sujawal has 11 cases with one new case, Sukkur has 363 cases with 25 new cases, Tando Allahyar has six cases, Tando Mohammad Khan has 33 cases, Tharparkar has only four cases, Thatta has four cases and Umerkot four cases.

Stranded Pakistanis: The chief minister said that 913 stranded Pakistanis returned to Karachi and all of them were tested. As a result 98 passengers tested positive and were put under treatment.

Tableeghi Jamaat: Murad Ali Shah said that 764 members of the Tableeghi Jamaat had tested positive while results of 17 tests were yet to come out.

He said that the people of the Tableeghi Jamaat who tested positive had been undergoing treatment.