Coronavirus Update: Sindh reports 959 more cases

By Mukhtar Alam
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Amid fear of renewed rising trend in the wake of relaxation in lockdown, the COVID-19 new infection rate in Sindh remained almost stationary last week as the provincial health department on May 22 confirmed another 959 infections across the province besides four related deaths. 

According to official data, the province’s new infection rate dipped to 16.13% after two consecutive days above 18.50%.

Sindh’s new daily infection rate during the last week (May 16 to 22) on average was recorded 16.59%, while the overall provincial COVID-19 infection rate was recorded at 13.88%, against the country’s 11.36% since February 26 when the lethal epidemic was confirmed for the first time in the country. 

In the meantime, the Sindh Chief Minister, Syed Murad Ali Shah, in his interaction with media on May 22, said that Sindh and the country were passing through a very critical phase of the coronavirus pandemic, which demanded utmost care and preventive measures like social distancing and observing Eid-ul-Fitr with simplicity. 

According to Sindh health department daily COVID-19 summary, four patients, including a woman, died in Karachi, taking the provincial tally of COVID-19 deaths to 340. The deceased persons aged from 56 to 78. 

Karachi also reported 827 new cases during the last 24 hours ending at 8 am on May 22, followed by Ghotki (45), Sukkur (14), Thatta (13), Shikarpur (10), Hyderabad (7), Jamshoro (6), Kambar Shadadkot (5), Shaheed Benazirabad (3), Khairpur (3), Larkana (3), Sanghar (2), Kashmore (2) while Badin, Sujawal, Dadu, Matiari and Umerkot reported one case each. 

Meanwhile, 149,566 samples were tested by various laboratories across the province, out of which 20,883 were detected COVID-19 infected. About 75% of the cases were found in people above 50 years.