Karachi electricity in shambles once more after 30-minute rain

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi 

(Pakistan News & Features Services)


Karachi has had a history of power breakdowns as soon as the first drop of rain arrives in the city over the years.

Primarily because of the electricity issues and then because of the lack of infrastructure for drainage and sewage the residents of the metropolis have remained fearful of rain although it’s a huge blessing from Nature. 

The first monsoon rainfall of 2020 on July 6 was made equally frightening by the power failures. Although it had rained for only half an hour or so, the city had gone out of power for more than 12 hours in many localities. 

The entire city was jolted by the loss of electricity immediately upon the arrival of rain and people were denied the pleasure of enjoying what could have been a pleasant afternoon after some horribly hot and humid days. 

K-Electric became the villain once more as people from every nook and corner of Karachi expressed their displeasure and anger at the power breakdown which continued for many hours. The whole system seemed to have crashed and collapsed within minutes. 

The social media was flooded with messages and photographs of the fallen electricity poles and wires which resulting in causing great inconvenience to the people of Karachi, beside taking away electricity from their houses, apartments and offices. Even the transformers were displaced at a few places.

It has happened literally every time in Karachi whenever the initial drops of rain plunge the whole city into darkness.

It’s quite amazing how consistently it continues to happen and no remedial actions are taken despite the fact that the cost of electricity has skyrocketed with the passage of time.

It has mattered little whether it was the now defunct Karachi Electricity Supply Corporation (KESC) or the newly named K-Electric, the citizens of Karachi have suffered every time rain has dropped in the city.

KESC had fared as miserably in serving the people when it was in the public sector. Little progress, if any, has been witnessed even after the takeover by a private party and as we could see again on July 6, there seem no prospects of any change in their performance.

Doesn’t seem it strange that the hugely resourceful K-Electric is unable to provide the desired services to its customers?

Isn’t it a pity that they couldn’t devise any strategy to ensure uninterrupted power when the monsoon rain was very much on the cards?

There are many cities and towns in this world which receive showers throughout the year but they hardly ever witness any power failure. It’s really a tragedy that a city as big and as significant as Karachi has struggled to have electricity on rainy days.

Coronavirus Update: 46 more fatalities in Sindh

By Mukhtar Alam
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Sindh, with overall COVID-19 infection rate of 19% on July 6, registered 46 more related fatalities, while the number of infections rose to 96,236. The province, according to data released by the Sindh health department, reported 1,708 new infections. The daily infection rate came as 13.68%, which was 20.75% on July 5, against 14.78% of July 4, 14.85 of July 3.

Keen observers said that Sindh needed a stable daily infection rate, in addition to reducing its daily death rate.

The province reported an average of 33 deaths daily during a period of June 30 to July 6 which, according to the experts, passed the impression that public and private hospitals were unable to manage the infected cases presented to them. 

As per the provincial data, updated on July 6, 15 patients in the age group of 0-9 years, 9 in 10-19, 27 in 20-29, 70 in 30-39, 184 in 40-49, 398 in 50-59, 436 in 60-69 and 440 of age 70 and plus have lost their lives at hospitals and homes due to COVID-19 so far in Sindh. 

According to a report generated by an international health agency, Sindh’s 48% of the fatalities occurred in government health facilities, 28% at private hospitals and 20% at homes across the province, during a period from March 10 to July 4. 

The Sindh Chief Minister, Syed Murad Ali Shah, in his daily statement on COVID-19 status, said that 40,809 patients were at present receiving treatment against the lethal virus across the province, including 38,875 at homes, 1,607 in hospitals and 327 at various isolation centres while the condition of 623 patients was critical. 

The Sindh health department reports revealed that 39 patients, including 32 men and seven women, lost their lives in Karachi. The deceased men were aged from 30 to 79 years while the women were in the age brackets of 47 to 83. There was no mention of hospitals or homes where they died, however. 

In addition, Ghotki, Khairpur, Hyderabad, Thatta and Umerkot registered a death each during the last 24 hours ending at 9 am on July 6. The deceased persons, all men, were aged from 50 to 76 years. The overall death tally rose to 1,572 on July 6 for the province. 

As many as 1,038 new people were tested positive for coronavirus at Karachi on July 6, followed by Hyderabad (191), Sukkur (107), Shaheed Benazirabad (48), Sanghar (42), Naushero Feroze (35), Tando Allahyar (34), Khairpur (30), Mirpurkhas (25), Larkana (22), Kambar Shahdadkot (21), Jamshoro (21), Sujawal (19), Matiari (16), Shikarpur (15), Tando Mohammad Khan (21), Ghotki (8), Thatta (6), Dadu (3), Kashmore (3) and Jacobabad (2).

Scientists convinced about coronavirus floating in air as aerosol

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

More than 200 scientists from around the world have challenged the official point of view of regarding the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) as the pandemic has rocked the whole world by having killed over half a million people. 

The scientists have contended the observations of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has continued to list only a couple of reasons of the transmission of the deadly virus. 

While the two organizations have maintained that inhaling respiratory droplets from an infected person in immediate vicinity or touching a contaminated surface and then eyes, nose or mouth were the two reasons of the contagious disease finding its way into others but the scientists have reckoned that there was growing evidence another way of its transmission. 

These scientists appear convinced on the basis multiple studies which demonstrated that particles known as aerosols, microscopic versions of standard respiratory droplets, can hang in the air for long periods and float dozens of feet, making poorly ventilated rooms, buses and other confined spaces dangerous, even when people stay six feet from one another. 

“We are 100% sure about this,” Lidia Morawska, a professor of atmospheric sciences and environmental engineering at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia, asserted. She made the case in an open letter to the WHO accusing the United Nations agency of failing to issue appropriate warnings about the risk. 

A total of 239 researchers from 32 countries have reportedly signed the letter, which was expected to be published next week in a scientific journal. 

In interviews, the experts have pointed out that aerosol transmission appeared to be the only way to explain several super-spreading events like the infection of diners at a restaurant in China who sat at separate tables and of choir members in Washington who took precautions during a rehearsal. 

The WHO officials were reported to have acknowledged that the virus could be transmitted through aerosols but, according to them, it occured only during medical procedures such as intubation that can spew large quantities of the microscopic particles.