KARACHI           -        Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that overnight 13,890 samples were tested which led to the detection of 2,275 coronavirus cases in the province, constituting 17 percent results while 41 more patients succumbed to the virus during the past 24 hours, lifting the death toll to 1089.

“Our testing capacity is the highest in Pakistan and we are still working hard to enhance it,” he said in a statement issued here from the CM House on Sunday. “The figures show 17 percent result, which is the lowest in the last one week. Otherwise, the result has been fluctuating between 21 to 24 percent,” he said, and conjectured this might be the result of selective lockdown. Murad Shah said that so far 378849 samples had been tested which had helped identify 69,628 cases that showed 18.4 percent result.

The CM further said that 2,166 more patients had recovered in the province during the last one day, and now the number of patients recovering from the virus so far stood at 36,278 that showed 52.2 percent recovery rate. The chief minister said, “Our recovery rate has been recorded at 52.2 percent and death rate at 1.5 percent, but still we have to improve our recovery rate and reduce the death rate by strengthening our health services and convincing people to follow the precautionary measures.

As per the statement, at present 32,261 patients are under treatment, of whom 30,705 are in home isolation, 48 are at isolation centers, and 1508 at different hospitals. “Of 718 patients who are in a critical condition, 117 have been shifted on ventilators,” the CM said.

While giving district-wise break-up of the cases, Syed Murad Ali Shah said that out of 2,275 new cases 1,280 had been reported from Karachi. There are 395 cases in East, 363 in South, 172 in Central, 140 in Korangi, 111 in West and 99 in Malir.

He added that Ghotki had 74 cases, Sukkur 72, Khairpur 64, Hyderabad 63, Mirpurkhas 38, Shikarpur 38, Shaheed Benazirabad 36, Kashmore 33, Thatta 28, Larkana 24, Jamshoro 13, Nasushehroferoze 12, Umerkot 11, Tando Allahyar 10, Matiari and Dadu six each, Kambar three, Sujawal two and Tando Mohammad  Khan two.

Sindh chief minister urged people to support selective lockdown and avoid stepping out of their homes unnecessarily.