No one knows when schools will close: Saeed Ghani

KARACHI: Sindh Education Minister Saeed Ghani said on Thursday that no one knew when schools across the province would once again close due to coronavirus.

Recently, COVID-19 cases across the country have surged, with 908 people testing positive for the infection on Wednesday, data from the NCOC showed. SAPM on Health Dr Faisal Sultan has warned that a surge in coronavirus cases over the past few weeks have suggested that a second wave of the virus is here in Pakistan.

Ghani was distributing tablets at a school in Karachi when he said he couldn’t tell when schools would close again due to the infection. He said that there were over 40,000 schools in Sindh, the government cannot rely on NGOs alone.

The provincial education minister said that at least 30 new schools will also be established in the province.

“If schools close [again due to the virus] these children will be able to study from home,” said Ghani.

908 test positive for coronavirus in single day

The upward trajectory of the coronavirus cases in Pakistan continued as 908 people tested positive for coronavirus on Wednesday, data from the NCOC showed.

The NCOC said 16 people died from the virus whereas the current number of cases brought the total tally of active COVID-19 cases to 11,695.

So far, as many as 312,638 people have recovered from COVID-19 and there is no patient on ventilator in Azad Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan and Balochistan.

Here is a brief breakdown of the COVID-19 figures:

29,449 tests conducted on 28 Oct
Sindh: 9,150
Punjab: 10,371
KP: 3,615
ICT: 4,810
Balochistan: 714
GB: 313
AJK: 476
95 vents occupied across Pakistan out of 1884 vents allocated for COVID-19.
A total of 331,108 cases detected so far (AJK 3938, Balochistan 15876, GB 4211, ICT 19454, KP 39277, Punjab 103587, Sindh 144765)
6775 deaths
Sindh: 2611 (7 died in hospital on 28 Oct)
Punjab: 2347 (5 died in hospital on 28 Oct)
KP: 1273 (2 died in hospital on 28 Oct)
ICT: 215 (1 died in hospital on 28 Oct)
Balochistan: 149 (-)
GB: 92 (-)
AJK: 88 (1 died in hospital on 28 Oct)
4,376,604 tests conducted
735 hospitals with covid facilities with 897 patients admitted across the country.