Coronavirus Update: Sindh tops in terms of deaths

By Mukhtar Alam
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Sindh, with 21 confirmed deaths, topped among the provinces which have commutatively reported so far 63 deaths among 4,489 coronavirus patients till April 9. 

The Sindh Chief Minister, Syed Murad Ali Shah, confirmed the 21st death in the province on April 9 in his routine video message, observing that the Sindh government was worried about Covid-19 cases being now reported in slums and disadvantaged areas of Karachi. 

One person from a family, living in a slum area in the central district of Karachi, had gone out and contracted the infection, the chief minister revealed, adding that the person transmitted the virus to other six members including a one-year-old boy and six-year-old girl. 

According to the official data, Sindh reported on average 1.53 deaths every day since March 28 when it announced its second corona related death. Sindh is followed by Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa (20 deaths among 360 cases), Punjab (17 deaths among 2,241) and Balochistan (2 deaths among 212 cases). Gilgit Baltistan and Islamabad Capital Territory have reported three and one corona related deaths respectively so far. 

The Provincial Disease Surveillance and Response Unit in a report update on April 9 said that the ratio between confirmed deaths and corona cases was 1.7 (890 Covid-19 cases and 16 deaths) in Sindh. Fifteen (94%) of the deaths were of males and 1 (6.2%) of female. 

The report said that the COVID-19 deaths were reported mostly among the age group 60-69 years (6, 37%) followed by age group 70-79 years (5, 26%). The highest number of the deaths was reported from the Karachi division (14, 88%). 

Discussing the comorbidities among the deceased patients of corona in Sindh, the surveillance and response unit said that 14 (88%) of the deaths were reported with comorbidities. The most frequent comorbidity was hypertension (11, 68%) followed by diabetes mellitus (9, 56%). 

According to the report, the COVID-19 cases were reported mostly among the age group 20-29 years (219, 21%) followed by age group 30-39 years (200, 19%). As many as 730 (70%) of the COIVD-19 cases were male and 324 (30%) female. 

The highest number of the cases was reported from the Karachi division and Sukkur, mainly due to the presence of Iran pilgrims in quarantine. 

About the transmission pattern of COVID-19 the report said that the highest number of cases have had travel history (74, 54%, while the remaining were divided into local transmission with known source and unknown source. 

In the meantime, the Sindh health department updates on corona said that 92 new infections were confirmed in 642 tests conducted in 24 hours ending at 8am on April 9, taking the tally of overall corona infection to 1,128. Karachi reported 74 new infections, followed by Khairpur (14) Hyderabad (3) and Shaheed Benazirabad (1). 

Khairpur became the 20th district of Sindh to be infected with Covid-19. However, the officials did not provide any information about gender, age, residence and hospital of the deceased patients, despite requests.