KARACHI: Provincial Minister for Health Sindh, Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho, recently chaired an important meeting on the anti-polio campaign and the corona vaccine situation in the province. The meeting was attended by Health Secretary Sindh Kazim Jatoi, Parliamentary Secretary for Health Qasim Soomro, EOC Coordinator Fayyaz Abbasi, and Commissioners and Deputy Commissioners from across the province via video link. The Sindh Health Minister said targeted polio coverage in all districts should be made possible in all cases while ensuring polio vaccination in case of absence of children. She directed ..read more

PESHAWAR: As the health department scales up efforts to vaccinate more and more people against coronavirus, the far-flung Upper and Lower Chitral districts have reported the highest inoculation rate in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. According to a government report, the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine has been administered to Upper Chitral’s 30 per cent targeted population of above 18 years of age, the highest rate by any district of the province. Lower Chitral is second on the list with 15 per cent of the residents receiving the first dose of the vaccine. The report said the province’s 46.88 per cent res ..read more

KARACHI: As many as 22 more patients of the coronavirus died overnight, lifting the death toll to 5,073. Moreover, 1041 new cases emerged after 15,008 tests were conducted. Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, in a statement, said that 22 more patients of COVID-19 lost their lives, lifting the death toll to 5,073 that constituted a 1.6 per cent death rate. Shah said that 15,008 samples were tested, which detected 1041 cases that constituted a 7 per cent current detection rate. He added that so far, 4,135,849 tests have been conducted against which 320,471 cases were diagnosed, of them 90 ..read more

KARACHI: The Provincial Task Force on coronavirus in its extensive sitting under Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah recently reviewed the COVID situation in the country. Owing to its severity, a ban has been placed on the unnecessary movement of people, on foot or in vehicles, has after 8 pm, except for valid reasons. The meeting was informed that during the last week (May 17 to 23, 2021), the coronavirus has gravely affected District East, where 21 per cent of the cases have been reported. Nineteen deaths were also reported from the area. District South reported 16 per cent of the cases ..read more

Karachi: The first-ever global convocation ceremony of the Aga Khan University (AKU) was live-streamed to a worldwide audience today, as 667 students on three continents received their degrees and listened to speeches by His Highness the Aga Khan, Chief Guest Melinda French Gates and AKU President Firoz Rasul. His Highness the Aga Khan, AKU’s founder and Chancellor, expressed his pride in the University’s contributions to the fight against the pandemic and saluted the courage and resilience of its faculty, staff and students. He praised the graduates in Pakistan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda a ..read more

Hospitals across the country have reported an increase in black fungus infection, Mucormycosis amongst COVID-19 patients. “We have seen at least five cases of Mucormycosis also called, Black Fungus. It is among serious COVID-19 patients under treatment at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the health facility. At least four patients have died due to this complication. At least two more centres have also reported Mucormycosis cases among COVID-19 patients,” as stated by a tertiary care physician in the local newspaper. -By Areeba Mahmood What is Black Fungus? Black fungus is an extremel ..read more

KARACHI: As many as 11 more patients of the coronavirus died overnight lifting the death toll to 4,835. Moreover, 1,334 new cases emerged when 14,041 tests were conducted. Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah in a statement said that 11 more patients of COVID-19 lost their lives lifting the death toll to 4,835 that constituted a 1.6 per cent death rate. Syed Murad Ali Shah said that 14,041 samples were tested which detected 1,334 cases that constituted a 9.5 per cent current detection rate. He added that so far 3,877,571 tests have been conducted against which 301,230 cases were diagnosed ..read more

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah while presiding over a meeting of the Provincial Task Force on the Coronavirus at the CM House endorsed the decision taken by the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) regarding the relaxation of certain specific non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs). “We will review the decision keeping in view the impact of COVID-19 in the post-Eid scenario and may take strict decisions if the standard operational procedures (SOPs) are followed or a spike in the cases is reported,” the CM said. The meeting was attended by provincial ministers, Dr Azr ..read more

KARACHI: Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho informed that the South African and Brazilian variants of the novel coronavirus disease had been found in samples taken by the Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH). In her video message, the Provincial Health Minister disclosed that the AKUH collected 13 samples to perform a genomic study confirming the variants of the virus. She added that out of these samples, ten were of the UK variant, two of the South African variant, while the other was found to be of the Brazilian variant. This is an emergency as these variants are not vaccination responsive ..read more

Karachi: The Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers’ Association (PPMA) has rejected the decision of the federal government to grant a six-day holiday on the upcoming occasion of Eid ul Fitr. In a press statement, spokesman and former PPMA chairman Dr Kaiser Waheed said that the pharmaceutical industry should not be subjected to such a prolonged closure this year based on the Eid ul Fitr holidays. He said that such a prolonged closure of the drug manufacturing units could create a crisis of medicines in the country amid a troubling third wave of coronavirus infections. He said the manufacturing ..read more