Sindh extends schools closure till further notice

KARACHI: Schools will remain closed in Sindh “till further orders”, the provincial government announced on Sunday, as coronavirus positivity ratios in urban areas like Karachi rose to 15.5 per cent from the previous day’s 12 per cent.

There were earlier plans to reopen schools on August 30. However, in a notification on Sunday, the Sindh education department walked back on the plan and announced the extension in school closures was made by the province’s Corona Task Force.

It comes as the positivity rates in Sindh province’s urban areas saw a rise, with Hyderabad remaining above 13 per cent in the 24 hours leading to Sunday. The province also accounted for most of the country’s single-day Covid deaths —23.

Among the day’s victims was a Pakistan Air Force doctor. The Pakistan Medical Association (PNA) identified her as Flight Lieutenant Dr Mahnoor Farzand. She had been hospitalised at the Combined Military Hospital in Karachi for the past week, PMA’s Dr Qaiser Sajjad said. Geo News reported that she was eight months pregnant, and her father was currently in intensive care with Covid-19.

Across the country, a total of 75 fatalities were registered and another 3,842 infections confirmed in a single day, according to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC). The national positivity rate rose to 7.5 per cent from the previous day’s 5.73 per cent.

Active cases were 89,334, with 5,776 patients admitted in hospitals. Of the hospitalised patients, 496 were on ventilators.

Multan saw the highest occupancy in ventilators with 69 per cent in use, followed by Bahawalpur — 66 per cent, Islamabad — 43 per cent and Peshawar — 42 per cent.

Oxygen beds occupancy rates were the highest in Swat at 83 per cent, followed by Abbottabad — 75 per cent, Swabi — 67 per cent and Peshawar 52 per cent. A total of 1,123,812 cases have been detected so far, with total deaths rapidly approaching 25,000. The death toll so far is 24,923 deaths.