Delta variants spread like “wildfire” in Karachi; more restrictions on cards

• Health experts say the situation in Karachi is extremely worrying.
• The provincial task force met today to review the pandemic situation.
• The Sindh provincial government has begun to take preventive measures to meet the challenge.

Karachi: The provincial government may take strict measures in metropolises to curb the rapid spread of the Delta variant, which accounts for 92% of infected cases and the positive rate exceeds 23%.

An official from the Department of Health of Sindh Province told news In order to curb the spread of the coronavirus in Karachi, the provincial government can decide to take some strict measures during the next meeting of the COVID-19 Provincial Working Group scheduled to be held today.

He warned: “If you don’t take strong non-pharmaceutical interventions, you will not be able to control the spread of Covid.”

“Karachi is heading for a serious media crisis”

According to the report, health authorities have begun to reserve more beds, wards and human resources in two major tertiary hospitals in Karachi to deal with the increasing number of COVID-19 cases.

“A 48-bed surgical ward at Karachi Civil Hospital (CHK) is being converted into a COVID-19 ward, and the lung ward at Jinnah Graduate Medical Center (JPMC) is also on standby to deal with the increasing number of cases due to the delta A variant, it is now spreading in the city like wildfire,” an official from the health department of Sindh told the publication.

The official stated that in order to prevent medical staff from contracting the virus, all elective surgeries at CHK have been cancelled, and other elective surgeries and procedures in other medical institutions have also been stopped, except for emergencies, adding that Karachi is heading towards a “serious media crisis” .

The official claimed that the number of inpatients increased from 390 in April to around 1,000 in mid-July, a fourfold increase. He said that some COVID-19 treatment facilities, including the Nipah Infectious Disease Hospital and the Expo Center, are already overcrowded. , And other tertiary health care and medical institutions are also facing tremendous pressure.

Delta variants spread in Karachi

On the other hand, virologists claim that the Delta change of the coronavirus is reflected in 92% of new cases in Karachi, which is the main reason for the increase in the number of positives and hospitalizations in the city.

“Our experts at the National Institute of Virology at Karachi University analyzed 90 Covid samples on July 14 and 15, of which 83 or more than 92% belonged to the Delta variant. This is an extremely worrying situation,” KU Said Dr. Iqbal Chaudhry, director of the International Center for Chemistry and Biological Sciences.

He said that because the Delta variant is highly contagious and the number of infections is large, more people will need to be hospitalized, and the pressure on medical institutions will increase.