87 per cent rise in coronavirus cases in Pakistan's Sindh: CM Murad Ali Shah

As three more coronavirus patients died in Pakistan's Sindh taking the provincial death toll to 14, the Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah sounded alarm bells over the drastic rise in the number of coronavirus cases in the province.

Sindh has 830 cases till Saturday, which is a sizable chunk of Pakistan's 2,686 confirmed cases.

Shah has said that there has been an 87 per cent rise in coronavirus cases across the province in the last 17-18 days.

"This is alarming and more focused and collective efforts are needed to control the spread of the pandemic," he added.

In Sindh, the disease has reached the local transmission phase.47 new coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Sindh on Friday, all of the new infections are cases of local transmission. Out of Friday's total, 38 of the cases were reported from Karachi.

Shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for medical staff and testing kits is also adding to the severity of the crisis in the province, as reported by the Express Tribune.

Chief Minister Shah has directed all district headquarter (DHQ) hospitals to provide extra ventilators and other equipment they might have to frontline care hospitals, to speed up the treatment of COVID-19 patients.

Meanwhile, Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho confirmed the deaths of two more coronavirus patients in Karachi and one in Hyderabad, bringing the death toll in Sindh to 14.

The deceased from Karachi, aged 82 and 60 respectively, both tested positive on Wednesday and had contracted the disease through local transmission.