Alarming: Karachi’s Covid Positivity Rate Surges To 21pc

Karachi has become the epicentre of the Covid-19 virus in the country and the positivity ratio has risen since to alarming new levels of 21 percent for the last two days, official data released by the National Command and Control Centre showed.

The city recorded at least 1,242 new Covid-19 infections during the last 24 hours. Subsequently, the province’s total tally jumped to 1,472 cases in just one day. Meanwhile, beyond Karachi, Sindh’s positivity rates have risen to alarmingly high levels as in Hyderabad, the positivity rate was reported at 19.03pc with total provincial positivity rate rising to as high as 13.1pc positivity rate.

Following Karachi and Hyderabad, the city of Mirpur has reported the third-highest coronavirus positivity rate at 13.16pc of the PCR tests detecting SARS-CoV-2, followed by Rawalpindi with 13.03pc, Peshawar with 13.02pc, and Abbottabad at 11.82pc.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has the second-highest Covid-19 positivity rate at 10.6pc, Azad Jammu and Kashmir 9.8pc whereas Islamabad and Balochistan recorded 6.3pc and 6.5pc respectively while Punjab and Gilgit Baltistan reported 3.9pc and 3.7pc.

The country has been gripped by the second wave of Covid-19 as the country is struggling to contain the Covid-19 virus as people have refused to follow standard operating procedures by not wearing masks or maintaining social distancing.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Imran Khan is in a Catch-22 situation where on one hand, he has to contain the rising cases whereas, on the other hand, he has to balance the economic fall-out from enforcing a complete country-wide lockdown.

Over the past few weeks ever since the second wave of Covid-19 picked up, he has been under immense pressure to enforce a blanket lockdown in the country but has refused to do so amid fears of economic collapse.