SIUT’s regular patients threatened by COVID-19

By Mukhtar Alam
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Reporting a surge of COVID-19 infections among its registered patients, the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) on May 14 revealed that presently it was diagnosing at least two such patients daily. 

The SIUT treating over 16,000 dialysis, transplant and cancer patients whose immunity is compromised because of the disease or treatment, a communication from the institute stated, adding that such patients contact infections including COVID-19 readily and frequently and have to be protected vigorously. 

“Due to the spread of COVID-19 in the community last week, 55 more patients of dialysis, transplant and cancer have been admitted in the SIUT overwhelming our capacity for coronavirus treatment.” 

The SIUT further disclosed that there were over 6,000 registered dialysis patients who have to come twice or thrice a week for free dialysis, out of which 41 patients were under treatment for COVID-19. “At least two patients are being diagnosed with coronavirus daily.” 

Similarly, the SIUT has 5,000 renal transplant recipients on regular lifetime follow-up, who are also immunocompromised. “At present 20 to 22 transplant patients infected with COVID-19 are getting vigorous treatment including high regimen immunosuppression.”

Coronavirus Update: Infections continue to rise, 758 new cases in Sindh

By Mukhtar Alam
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The coronavirus (COVID-19) infections have continued to speed up in Sindh as the authorities confirmed detection of 758 more cases, up from 731 the day before, with nine relevant deaths on May 14. 

The province witnessed an increase of about 5,000 COVID-19 epidemic cases, an average 714 cases daily, and 63 deaths at an average of nine daily during the last seven days ending to May 14.

It’s a kind of situation which pointed towards the province to have to fight for a longer period against the epidemic which it came across on February 26, remarked a keen observer. 

The Sindh Chief Minister, in his message, said that at present as many as 10,783 coronavirus people were under treatment, 9,307 at home, 915 in isolation centres and 561 in hospitals. 

“There were 105 people in critical condition, including 37 those put on ventilators,” he added, saying of those originally infected (3,073) were declared recovered. 

According to the Sindh health department’s daily update on coronavirus, six patients, including two women, lost their lives in Karachi. They were aged from 40 to 70 years. 

Hyderabad reported death of two infected people including a woman of 60 years. The deceased man was 52 years old. In addition, a 57-year-old man succumbed to the infection at Larkana. The department did not provide details about the places where the ill-fated patients were taking the treatment and for how long. 

With the reporting of new infections Sindh’s tally of COVID-19 cases has shot up to 14,099. Karachi reported the maximum 613 new cases, followed by Hyderabad (33 cases), Sukkur (26), Larkana (26), Matiari (16), Khairpur (9), Tando Mohammad Khan (6), Kambar Shahdakot (5), Jacobabad (3), Dadu (3), Ghotki (3), Jamshoro (2), Shaheed Benazirabad (2), Mirpurkhas (2), Umerkot (2) and Shikarpur (2), while Thatta, Sujawal, Naushehro Feroze, Kashmore and Tharparkar reported one case each.

Diamer-Bhasha dam pact signed

By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The Rs 442 billion contract, a joint venture of China Power and Frontier Works Organization (FWO) for the construction of the Diamer-Bhasha dam, was signed May 13.

The Chinese state-run firm holds 70 percent and the FWO, 30 percent share in the consortium. The contract covers construction of a diversion system, main dam, access-bridge and the 21MW Tangir hydropower project.  

The Diamer-Bhasha dam project’s Chief Executive Officer, Amir Bashir Chaudhry, and the authorized representative of the China Power Yang Jiandu signed the agreement on behalf of the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) and the joint venture, respectively. 

The Water Resources Minister, Faisal Vawda, Chinese Ambassador Yao Jing, Water Resources Secretary Mohammad Ashraf, WAPDA Chairman, Lt Gen Muzammil Hussain, Pakistan Army engineer-in-chief, Lt Gen Moazzam Ejaz, and FWO Director General, Maj Gen Kamal Azfar, attended the signing ceremony.

The WAPDA chairman expressed the hope that the Diamer-Bhasha dam would be completed as per the timelines to cope with the increasing water and electricity requirements of the country. 

“The dam project with a total financial outlay of about Rs 1,406.5 billion would be completed in 2028,” he revealed. 

He briefed that the project would have a gross storage capacity of 8.1 MAF and power generation capacity of 4,500MW, with an annual generation of 18.1 billion units. 

However, the electro-mechanical and power generation project would be taken up separately at a later stage. The total financial outlay includes land acquisition and resettlement, confidence building measures for social uplift of the local people, construction of dam and power houses. 

Prime Minister Imran Khan was briefed on the progress of the project a couple of days ago. The construction work on dam will begin in coming few weeks.

China sends more COVID-19 relief goods

By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The Ambassador of Pakistan to China, Naghmana Hashmi, in her tweet, disclosed that two special flights from Shanghai and Chengdu with COVID-19 relief items for Pakistan left early on May 14 which demonstrated further strengthening of friendship between the two countries.

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has sent COVID-19 containment supplies, including protective suits, medical masks and forehead thermometers, to militaries of 12 countries including Pakistan by air force planes. 

The supplies have been sent to countries such as Pakistan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Thailand, Nepal, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. 

The move was made at the request of these countries’ militaries and with the approval of China’s Central Military Commission. 

The PLA has announced that it will continue to strengthen international cooperation with national defense departments and the militaries in other countries to contain the pandemic. 

Earlier, the PLA sent its medical experts who are currently in Pakistan to share experience on COVID-19 prevention and control. 

Led by Zhou Feihu, head of the Chinese expert team and former director of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) Department of the Chinese PLA General Hospital, the team has so far visited a total of eight military hospitals in Pakistan and shared experience of fighting against the coronavirus with the local medical experts.

Pakistan, China for furthering health cooperation

By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The Advisor to Prime Minister on Health, Dr Zafar Mirza, has said that the government has accorded great importance to the nationwide response to the epidemic since the first-ever case of coronavirus (COVID-19) was found in Pakistan.

He expressed these views while meeting the Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan, Yao Jing, in Islamabad. They deliberated on the subject of anti-epidemic cooperation. 

According to the details shared by the Chinese Embassy on May 14, the Advisor to Prime Minister on Health expressed his gratitude to the people and the government of China for having arranged for various medical supplies besides extending support to Pakistan through different means. 

In March, the Chinese government had sent a team of medical experts to assist Pakistan. Recently, a team of medical experts from the Chinese military also came to work in Pakistan. China has provided the largest external support for Pakistan to fight the epidemic. 

Ambassador Yao pointed out that China was the first to report the epidemic situation to the World Health Organization (WHO) and it took timely and strict measures to respond to the epidemic situation, thus winning precious time for the global anti-epidemic. 

“After China's epidemic situation has improved, it has actively launched international anti-epidemic cooperation campaign. In the process of responding to the epidemic, all walks of life in China and Pakistan have always supported and helped each other. The all-weather strategic cooperative partnership between China and Pakistan has been further strengthened,” the ambassador reckoned.

Gwadar Port operational for Afghan Transit Trade

By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Pakistan took another major initiative to ensure maximum utilization facilities at Gwadar Port, when the Ministry of Commerce announced to operationalize Gwadar Port for use of Afghan Transit Trade under Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement 2010 (APTTA 2010).

The shipments of sugar, fertilizer and wheat will be transported in sealed trucks to Afghanistan. In this regard, 16000 MT of DAP and WFP cargo having 500,000 MT of wheat for Afghanistan will be arriving next month. Ships from China will also offload at Gwadar. 

This major step will jump-start Gwadar port operations according to TM Developers Gwadar, who made this announcement through Twitter. 

Besides, massive operations activities at Gwadar Port, the move will also ensure necessary ecosystem for another big seaport of Pakistan. 

This initiative will fulfill the long standing request of the business community and the shipping industry demanding early operationalization of the port, thus generating business and employment opportunities, particularly for the local youths as well as people living along highways. 

The port features prominently in the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) plan, and would be an important part of Belt and Road Initiative and the Maritime Silk Road projects. It is about 120 kilometres southwest of Turbat. 

In 2015, it was decided that the city and port would be developed under CPEC with the aim of linking northern Pakistan and western China to the deep water seaport.

Coronavirus Update: Karachi death count shoots to 16, with 625 new cases

By Mukhtar Alam
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Amidst concerns over the relaxed COVID-19 related restrictions, health authorities confirmed surge in Karachi daily death toll from coronavirus, with 16 people losing their lives in 24-hours duration, on May 13, pushing the total fatalities to 234 in the province. 

According to official data, Sindh reported no COVID-19 deaths from other districts which have cumulatively presented 29 deaths so far. Karachi, which reported its first coronavirus death on March 20, has witnessed considerable increase in coronavirus mortalities in recent weeks. 

Last week (May 7-13), there were 66 deaths at an average of just over nine deaths per day in the megapolis, which has reported over 10,000 COVID-19 positive cases so far. 

The Sindh health department’s daily summary updated at 8 am on May 13 revealed that the deceased patients included three women, aged from 30 to 81 years, and 13 men, aged from 42 to 85 years. However, the report was silent on the medical history of the unfortunate patients. 

There were 195 coronavirus patients in critical conditions and 27 on ventilators at various hospitals in Sindh, as per an international health body report. 

The Sindh Chief Minister, Syed Murad Ali Shah, in a statement on May said that 22.5% of the patients dying of COVID-19 were over 81 years, while another 11.5% of the deceased were in the age brackets of 71-80, 8.5% aged from 61 to 70 years, 4.6% from 51 to 60 years. 

About 76% of the people dying of Covid-19 were male, while 24% were females across the province, he added. 

As per the health department data, Karachi reported 625 new infections in 24 hours, followed by Larkana (24), Hyderabad (22), Ghotki (14), Sukkur (10), Kashmore (8), Shikarpur (7), Shaheed Benazirabad (5), Sujawal (4), Tando Mohammad Khan (4) Naushehro Feroze (2), and Jacobabad (2), while Jamshoro, Thatta, Khairpur, Kambar Shadadkot districts reported one case each. 

As many as 4,226 samples were tested in last 24 hours, 731 (over 17%) of which were found infected with COVID-19, taking the total tested samples to 103,343 in the province.

Doctors fear rise in COVID-19 cases due to relaxed lockdown

By Mukhtar Alam
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

A delegation of the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA), in its meeting with the Sindh Health Minister, Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho, on May 13, expressed concerns over the prevailing situation after relaxation in lockdown.

“There are crowds of people everywhere including markets throughout the country,” the delegation observed and warned the health minister that the PMA feared the number of new cases to surge in the coming weeks. 

The PMA delegation included Dr S M Qaiser Sajjad, Dr Qazi Muhammad Wasiq and Dr Abdul Ghafoor Shoro, who also discussed at large the issues of doctors, nurses and paramedics working in the Sindh. 

According to the PMA press release, the provincial health minister assured the doctor community leaders that risk allowance will be given to the health workers engaged in the care of the coronavirus patients. 

The minster agreed to the suggestions of doctors for improving the capacity building measures at the public sector hospitals. She was also urged to ensure increase in the number of beds in the hospitals and the number of corona designated hospitals and testing capacity. 

Dr Azra Pechuho announced that doctors and the paramedics suffering from COVID-19 will be admitted at private designated hospital, when no ICU beds and ventilator as available at the public sector hospitals, at the expense of government.

COVID-19 vaccine to rely on human trails

By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The researchers in dozen of labs around the world have been working on the development of a vaccine for COVID-19. They will have to rely on volunteers to participate in trials at multiple points during the process of vaccine development.

Kris Armradit, the daughter of one of (China Global Television Network) CGTN's producers, has participated in three clinical trials run by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), one for an HIV monoclonal antibody treatment and two for a malaria vaccine. 

As is common in the US, she was reportedly paid for participating, about 5,000 dollars over four months for one of the malaria studies where she contracted the disease. 

"You get bitten by mosquitoes and you get infected with malaria and then you stay in the hospital to see if you get malaria then to cure you afterwards,” Armradit was quoted as saying. 

“I spent most of a week in a hospital with fever and chills. It's a lot to go through it was worth it. I felt a little bit of a desire to help and do some good because this was helping make medicine that would save lives," she added. 

Armradit stated that if there’s an opportunity to volunteer for COVID-19 trials she won't hesitate to participate.

"Whatever they're doing, they're helping to save lives. The sooner we have a vaccine the sooner life goes back to normal, the sooner we can save millions of lives worldwide." 

Public health officials in the US believe that it might take at least a year before a vaccine was developed and put into widespread use. 

"We can't rely on a vaccine over the next several months to a year. However, if this virus, which we have every reason to believe it’s quite conceivable that it will happen, will go beyond just a season and come back and recycle next year, if that's the case, we hope to have a vaccine," Dr Anthony Fauci had famously said.

Canada, China join hands for developing COVID-19 vaccine

By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The Canadian researchers are working with China to develop a vaccine against the novel coronavirus, Canadian media reported on May 13, citing the country's National Research Council. 

 According to the report, human tests of Chinese vaccine candidate Ad5-nCoV, under joint development by a Chinese company and the Canadian military, will begin in Canada. 

The two countries have struck a deal to produce the vaccine in Canada for clinical trials and emergency use, the report added.

“China and Canada, since the outbreak of COVID-19, have actively supported cooperation to each other for active response,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Zhao Lijian, disclosed in Beijing. 

He observed that COVID-19 vaccine development was crucial and a key for mankind to overcome the pandemic. 

China has been actively engaged with Canada and other countries for development of medicines and vaccine for the COVID-19. 

“China is ready to work with international community, including Canada, to accelerate research and development of COVID-19 medical products and make safeguard global health and security and combat the pandemic,” the spokesperson added.