India’s former first lady recovers from COVID-19 at 93

By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Vimala Sharma, the wife of former President of India, Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma, has successfully fought against deadly Coronavirus pandemic at the age of 93.

She was discharged from the AIIMS Trauma Centre in New Delhi on evening of June 25, two and a half weeks after she had tested positive for COVID-19, the Indian media reported. The 93-year-old is among the oldest to have recovered from the virus in the world. 

According to family sources, her oxygen levels had started dipping on June 5 after which she was tested, and her reports came positive on June 6. 

“To our horror, her report was positive and we immediately rushed her to AIIMS. It came as a shock as she doesn’t go out of the house at all. The first four days, her condition did deteriorate a bit. I know she is 93 but losing her to a virus would have been the worst,” her son Ashutosh Dayal Sharma told The Indian Express. 

While admitted for almost 18 days, she was not put on ventilator support. Her family didn’t lost hope and spoke to her twice during her entire stay. A couple of weeks after the admission, she was tested again and her reports came out negative.

The doctors at AIIMS said that, apart from antibiotics, she was on a high flow nasal cannula, a technique through which a high amount of oxygen can be delivered.

Coronavirus Update: No respite as 17 more die in Sindh

By Mukhtar Alam
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

As many as 84 beds in the COVID-19 intensive care units (ICU) of hospitals across Sindh were vacant on June 25 when authorities in the government registered another 1,098 new cases, with 17 more deaths, pushing the tally of patients dying of the lethal virus diseases to 1,178. 

According to an official report, a maximum of 25 COVID-19 ICU beds were vacant in Karachi hospitals, followed by Hyderabad (18), Shaheed Benazirabad (8), Sukkur (16) and Larkana (17). The number of unoccupied high dependency beds was 696 including 414 at Karachi.

The statement on COVID-19 situation in Sindh, issued from the Chief Minister’s House, revealed that 17% of the total 6,458 samples tested were found positive at various laboratories of the province during the last 24 hours ending at 9 am on June 25. However, the statement did not disclose all the districts where the new infections were registered. 

It gave a district-wise breakdown of about 600 cases, without revealing the status of the diseases in districts like Jacobabad, Khairpur, Kambar Shahdadkot, Shaheed Benazirabad, Naushero Feroze and Tharparkar, many of which have been reporting new cases in significant number. 

The CM House statement also did not include any district-wise details of new COVID-19 deaths. In the statement, which was the only source of information about COVID-19 for media on June 25, Chief Minister, Syed Murad Ali Shah, said that said that 6,458 samples were tested and 1,098 positive cases were detected, taking the tally of total infection to 75,168 for the province.

According to the statement, Karachi reported the maximum of 494 new cases, including Karachi South (208), East (141), Central 48, Malir (44), Korangi (32) and West (21).

The other districts which reported the cases, according to the statement, were Hyderabad (34), Ghotki (33), Sukkur (15), Shikarpur (8), Sanghar (6), Umerkot (5), Dadu (5), Larkana (4), Mirpurkhas (4), Jamshoro (2), Badin (2), Thatta (1) and Sujawal (1). 

The Chief Minister urged the people of the province to be vigilant and responsive to the standard operating procedures (SOPs) related to COVID-19. 

It was further said that 33,131 infected people were still receiving treatment, including 31,665 at homes, 1,388 at hospitals and 78 at isolation centres. “As many as 641 patients were in critical condition, including 99 those utilizing ventilators.” 

An official report issued on June 20 revealed that the South district of Karachi, which reported the maximum infection in Karachi on June 25, had registered in all 6,960 COVID-19 cases, while enduring 44 deaths. Its overall infection rate came as 326 per 100,000 people, while the case fatality rate stood at 3.5%. 

In the meantime, the website of the Sindh health department, updated at 7.52 pm on June 25, mentioned the Sindh death toll as 1,202, while the department did not issue daily COVID-19 summary to media for the third day running. The health department’s last summary was issued on June 22.

CPEC creates jobs for Thari women

By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a torch bearer of the visionary Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), has not only accelerated economic activities across Pakistan but also created awareness among the rural women folk. 

Prior to the launch of CPEC projects, the women folks in rural Sindh were used to earn their livelihood by making traditional dresses with hand-made embroidery, contributing with family in sheep and cow farms or spending time either with their children or family.

But now the ladies, living in Tharparkar, also known as Thari women, also have the option to earn money from non-traditional sources thus meeting the challenges of present era of price spiral. 

In this regard, the Thari women have been given training to drive heavy trucks, used for transportation of materials for the CPEC projects. 

The management of Block II project under the CPEC in Sindh, in order to encourage them, has employed local women of Tharparkar desert for truck driving job. These women are very skillfully performing their responsibilities to the satisfaction of their employers.