KARACHI - Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Syed Murad Ali Shah on Saturday said that as many as 762 cases of coronavirus had been detected during the last 24 hours while 14 more people died during the same period.

In a statement issued from the CM’s House here, he said around 4,336 samples were tested which led to the detection of 762 new cases. “The Sindh government has conducted 153902 tests so far which has resulted in the detection of 21,645 cases which constitute 14 percent of the total number of tests conducted,” he added.

Syed Murad Ali Shah said that 14 patients of coronavirus lost their lives in the province in one day, taking the death toll to 354 which was 1.6 percent of the total number of patients.

He further said that 155 patients were in a critical condition while 34 of them had been on the ventilators. He prayed for their early recovery.

The CM said that at present 14,078 patients were under treatment, of them 12,424 were in isolation at their homes, 794 were at isolation centres and 860 or 6.2 percent were at hospitals.

Talking about the patients cured today, he said 198 patients had recovered. “In all 7,213 patients have recovered so far. Our recovery ratio stands at 33.4 percent,” the chief minister elaborated.

Murad said out of 762 fresh Covid-19 cases, 618 had been reported from Karachi alone. “This shows that cases of local transmission are on the rise,” he regretted.

Giving district-wise breakup of the cases, the chief minister said there were 190 cases in East, 115 in South, 112 in Central, 81 in Malir, 76 in Korangi and 44 in the district West of Karachi.

Regarding other districts of the province, he said Larkana had 20 cases, 15 cases each had been reported from Hyderabad and Khairpur, eight cases had been reported from Shaheed Benazirabad, three from Kambar-Shdaddkot, two each in Jacobabad and Mirpurkhas and one each in Thatta, Badin, Tharparkar and Jamshoro.

Talking about flights, the chief minister said that 5,051 stranded Pakistanis had reached provincial capital on board 28 planes; right from April 18 to May 5. “Of these 976 passengers tested positive for the virus,” he disclosed.

The chief minister urged people of Sindh to stay at home and avoid unnecessary crowding in markets and shopping malls. “This is in your [people’s] interest, otherwise you will be the carrier of the virus for your family,” he warned.