Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said his province is much ahead of others in conducting Covid-19 tests and our labs are working at 77 percent capacity.

"We have 19 laboratories to test Covid-19 samples and they are operating at 77 percent of 6550 samples a day capacity."

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

The chief minister said Covid-19 testing lab was also being established in Larkana, apart from establishing designated hospitals for the Covid-19 patients.

He said 864 new cases of Covid-19 have been detected out of 4679 tests, now the tally has risen to 17,241.

Shah said overnight 4679 tests were conducted which detected 864 cases, including 657 in Karachi. He added that 127573 samples have been tests so far which diagnosed 17241 cases @ 13.5 percent of the total tests.

According to the chief minister, three more patients died lifting the death toll to 280 which came to 1.6 percent of the total patients.

At present 12472 patients are under treatment, of them 11,095 or 89 percent are in home isolation, 815 or six percent at Isolation Centers and 562 or five percent in hospitals. Shah said 136 patients were in critical condition including 29 who have been put in ventilators.

Shah said 280 more patients were cured and discharged to lead normal lives but under some SOPs and precautions. "We have 4489 patients who have recovered and returned to their homes which constitutes 26 percent of the total patients," Shah said and added "The recovery ratio in the province is static at 26 percent and we are trying to improve it further." he said.

District-wise break up: The chief minister told that out of 864 patients, 657 belonged to Karachi. He added that 171 new cases have been diagnosed in district East, 141 in Malir, 117 South, 94 Central, 75 Korangi and 59 in district West.