KARACHI: The Chief Minister of Pakistan’s Sindh province has tested positive for COVID-19, his spokesman announced on Monday as a second wave of the novel coronavirus sweeps the country.
Pakistan has recorded 359,032 infections so far and 7,160 deaths. After a peak in May, cases had dwindled significantly, but there has been an uptick in infections after the government slowly reopened all sectors of business and education since August.
“Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has tested positive, he was running light fever on Friday,” Shah’s spokesman Rashid Channa told Arab News, adding that the chief minister had isolated himself but was feeling better.
On Sunday, 942 new cases were reported in Sindh and at least 9 people died of the virus, taking the provincial death toll to 2,747.
“11,353 samples were tested which diagnosed 942 cases that came to 8.3 percent detection rate, which is the highest in the current wave,” the chief minister had said on Sunday.
Currently, 10,226 patients are under treatment in Sindh, of which 9,721 are at home, six in isolation centers and 499 in various hospitals.
Wearing face masks has been made mandatory in Sindh province and several restaurants and wedding halls sealed for not following health guidelines.
