There were 1,500 people who came to Sindh from Iran in the past few weeks, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah announced during a press conference on Thursday morning.
He was addressing the media a day after the first two coronavirus cases were confirmed in Pakistan, one of which was confirmed in Karachi. The 22-year-old victim is currently isolated at the Aga Khan University Hospital.
The chief minister said the government has got the data of 150 people and is contacting them. We are asking them to stay home for 15 days, he said. If they develop symptoms within those 15 days, we will test them and then isolate them if it is confirmed, Shah said.
Private hospitals, such as AKUH and the Indus Hospital, will be helping the government train UC medical officers on what to do in these cases. “If someone has symptoms, our teams will go visit and if they don’t show symptoms for 15 days, we can rule some out.” A protocol and SOP has been developed, he said.
Shah said the reason they shut down schools in the province for two days was not to spread panic. There were 1,500 people who came from Iran, he said. There is a possibility that they might have contracted the virus and come in contact with their children and other people, and we don’t want other children to be infected. We will be checking children, he said.
Shah said they hope to get a grip on the virus in the next 48 hours. He said the steps they are taking are needed so that the virus doesn’t spread.
A control room is also being set up at the Karachi Commissioner Office. A meeting will be held every day at 7pm where a core group will report on daily developments and the next day’s plan. The media will be briefed on the contents of the meeting afterwards.
Don’t spread panic, cautioned Shah. However, he said steps need to be taken at home, in offices and in schools.
We need medicine, masks and equipment he said. He has told the police, Karachi administration and Rangers to pick up these things wherever they are available. We will then sell them at the right price to make sure no one can make money off them. Action will also be taken against people creating an artificial shortage and seeking to gain from selling equipment at higher prices.
Shah announced that an entire hospital has been designated as a special coronavirus isolation unit. He didn’t disclose the name of the hospital but said they are currently getting equipment for it. To circumvent the procurement process, Indus Hospital is purchasing ventilators for the hospital that the government will pay for in cash.
We’ve told people who have had possible exposure to the coronavirus to isolate themselves but we will quarantine them if they test positive for the virus.
We’re doing this on war footings and hope to have the hospital ready in three to four days, said Shah. But they need expertise. Private sector hospitals have also offered their doctors’ help.
Shah said all government owned public places must have hospital strength sanitisers available. He also wants private spaces like shopping malls or offices and factories to have them too.
An issue with these sanitisers is that they’re not all approved by the DRAP and then cannot be bought. We are telling the federal government to relax this rule so the government can procure the sanitisers, he said.
This is a national emergency and we need to work responsibly, said the chief minister. So far, flights to and from Iran have not been banned, he said, calling it a central point of the virus.
The Karachi airport is a port of entry, he said, adding that he is asking the federal government to shut down flights from Iran and do more at the airport till the situation is controlled.
Airport screening is the federal government’s job but if they don’t have enough resources, we can help, said Shah. We will talk to the private sector to find out how to detect cases and how to handle them, he said.
We need to control these cases as we don’t need more people coming into the country with the virus, he said.
He urged the federal government to put aside government and party lines. Let’s do this together, he said, we’re ready to provide what little expertise we have. I hope better sense prevails and you don’t go into trivialities, he added.
Shah also urged people to protect the privacy of patients. Confidentiality is key, he said, adding that if he leaked the data or revealed it in some way, he was asking for forgiveness. The details of the 22-year-old admitted at AKUH were circulated online. If you see or hear me revealing confidential information, tell me I’m a fool for not taking care, he said.
He was flanked by Dr Faisal Mehmood, an infectious diseases specialist at AKUH, Dr Abdul Bari Khan of Indus Hospital and Dr Naseem Salahuddin among others.
Dr Mehmood said while wearing a mask isn’t necessary, washing your hands is. The symptoms show up in 14 days, he said.
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