Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that in order to assess the impact of COVID-19, a community surveillance study has been planned under which seroprevalence studies would be conducted in two union councils of Karachi.

This he said in a statement issued from the CM House on Saturday.

He said that 380 telemedicine doctors had been deputed to monitor the patients who had recovered from the infection.

The chief minister said that community surveillance was the need of the hour, and he had directed his team to develop a digital assessment app.

"We have also decided to conduct seroprevalence studies in two union councils of Karachi," he said and added that the pilot study would be conducted in Kharadar and Kehkashan union councils of district south.

It may be noted that seroprevalence is the number of people in a population who tested positive for COVID-19 based on serology specimen, often presented as the percentage of the total specimens tested or as a proportion per 100,000 people tested.

Giving the situation report on the coronavirus, the chief minister said that 46 patients recovered, but 427 new cases emerged taking the tally of patients to 7,102 in the province.

Shah said that 3,259 tests were conducted which resulted in 427 new cases. The health department had conducted 61,020 tests so far. Out of the total number of tests conducted, 7,102 patients (11.6 percent) were diagnosed as positive.

The total number of patients who recovered was 1,341 (19 percent), he said.

Shah said that four more patients died, taking the death toll to 122.

He added that 45 patients were in critical condition, and 18 of them were on ventilators.

Talking about the cases in Karachi, Shah said that out of the 427 latest cases in the province, 376 belonged to Karachi.

He said that this figure showed that there was no letup in the number of cases emerging in the city.

The chief minister said that the people must realize the gravity of the situation and take precautionary measures.

Giving the district-wise breakdown of the cases in Karachi, Shah said that 131 new cases were diagnosed in South, 65 in East, 54 in Korangi, 47 in West, 46 in Central and 33 in Malir.

In other districts of the province, four new cases were diagnosed in Ghotki, six each in Hyderabad, Larkana and Shaheed Benazirabad, four in Khairpur, five in Sukkur, two in Sanghar and one each in Thatta and Sujawal.

The chief minister once again urged the people of the province to observe the SOPs and ensure social distancing.

"This is a new way of life, and we have to adopt it," he said.