Coronavirus Update: Local transmission rise phenomenally

By Mukhtar Alam
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Increasing day by day, the proportion of locally transmitted came as 96% of the total COVID-19 cases across Sindh on June 15 as the provincial health department confirmed registration of another 1,776 news cases of the virus, with 22 fatalities.

Official data said that of the 53,805 coronavirus positive cases, there were 1,723 (3%) cases returning from other countries, in addition to 280 (01%) of Pakistani pilgrims, coming from Iran. 

Until May 15, the breakdown of confirmed cases in Sindh was: Zaireen from Taftan (Iran) 280 (2%), imported from other countries 718 (5%), and locally transmitted cases 13,918 (93%), which gave to understand that the locally transmitted cases grew exponentially while impact of Pakistani coming back from abroad was nominal.

According to health department daily summary, as many as 22 COVID-19 patients lost their lives across the province during the last 24 hours ending at 9 am on June 15 taking the tally of fatalities to 853 for the province. 

Karachi reported the deaths of 12 men and six women. The deceased men were aged from 45 to 82 years while the women were in the age brackets of 40 to 64 years. Another three men, aged between 33 to 64 years, died at Larkana, Sanghar and Kambar Shahdadkot while an 80-year-old woman passed away at Ghotki. 

So far, as many as 700 COVID-19 patients died at Karachi, followed by Hyderabad (34), Larkana (17), Sukkur (13), Shikarpur (11), Sanghar (8), Khairpur (7), Ghotki (6), Badin (5), Kambar Shahdadkot (4), Thatta (4), Kashmore (4), Mirpurkhas (4), Shaheed Benazirabad (3), Naushero Feroze (3), Sujawal (3), Dadu (2), Matiari (2), Jacobabad (2), Jamshoro (1) and Tando Muhammad Khan (1). 

Of the 9,080 samples tested for COVID-19 during the last 24 hours, 1,776 were positive, as such the daily rate of new infection remained 19.55%.

The new infections at Karachi remained 1,391, followed by Kashmore (66), Hyderabad (57), Ghotki (47), Khairpur (34), Larkana (30), Sukkur (27), Jacobabad (27), Mirpurkhas (25), Thatta (24), Jamshoro (15), Kambar Shahdakot (11), Shaheed Benazirabad (10), Shikarpur (8), Dadu (7), Badin (7), Tando Allahyar (6), Umerkot (6), Tando Mohammad Khan (4) and Naushero Feroze (1). 

There were 26,705 active cases of COVID-19, while 28,023 recovered from the diseases. Proportion of women contracting the virus came as 29% on June 15. 

There were 233 patients in the intensive care units of different hospitals of Karachi, while another 324 in the high dependency units and 195 in the isolation wards of hospitals in Karachi, according to an official report, updated at 10 am on June 15. 

Karachi, with 42,681 positive cases, ranked first among the top 20 virus infected cities of the country, followed by Lahore (26,374), Quetta (6,643), Peshawar (5, 575) and other cities.

Pakistan closing in to manufacturing of COVID-19 diagnostic kits commercially

By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Pakistan has developed indigenous COVID-19 diagnostic kits that have been approved by Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) for commercial use. 

In a recent interview with Arab News, the Federal Minister for Science and Technology, Chaudhry Fawad Hussain has said that the locally manufactured diagnostic kits would considerably cut down the cost of coronavirus tests in the country. 

He said the kit was developed by experts at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) with more than 90 percent accuracy, which was about 20 percent better than the imported kits. 

The minister also expressed the hope that domestic ventilators would also be prepared within next few weeks, since clinical trials of four machines have already entered their final phase. 

He added that once these trials were over, the commercial entities would be asked to start manufacturing the ventilators.

Azeem Sarwar, Aziz Memon tribute forgotten leading lady Sabiha Khanum

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi 
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Azeem Sarwar and Aziz Memon, acclaimed trailblazers in their respective fields, have generously praised Sabiha Khanum, the first leading lady of Pakistani cinema, who passed away quietly in the United States on June 13 at the age of 84.

“Sabiha Khanum was the most successful film heroine of 1950s as well as 1960s. She was an institution in herself. She played the female lead in numerous successful films. She was known and respected for her natural acting,” Azeem Sarwar, himself a legendary broadcaster and producer, complimented while talking to PNFS. 

“I am really shocked to learn about her death because I was remembering her only the other day. She was the spouse of the handsome Santosh Kumar, who was also a versatile actor and together they worked in quite a few memorable movies. Indeed she has left an undeniable impact on Pakistan’s film industry,” he added. 

Aziz Memon, a renowned philanthropist and entrepreneur, also became sad at the death of Sabiha Khanum.

“I came know about her death as soon as the news emerged from Virginia. It was very saddening indeed. I was more heartbroken because she was forgotten far too soon and she was living literally in wilderness for the last many decades after having ruled the film industry 1950s and 1960s,” he told PNFS. 

“Isn’t it a tragedy that the iconic actress, who was one of the pioneers of film industry in Pakistan and ruled the golden era of Pakistan Cinema, was not recognized at the highest level in her lifetime? Now I would urge the concerned authorities to decorate her with a national award posthumously,” Aziz Memon, himself a recipient of the Pride of Performance award, suggested. 

Sabiha Khanum was born on October 16, 1935 and she debuted with film Beli in 1950. Her memorable films included Gumnaam (1954), DullaBhatti (1956), Sarfarosh (1956), Mukhra (1958) and Devar Bhabhi (1967). Besides husband Santosh Kumar, she was cast opposite all renowned actors of her time.