Murad calls for further strengthening of passengers' screening system at Taftan, airport.

KARACHI -- Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that there ar some weakness of screening of the passengers/pilgrims at the Jinnah Terminal and at Taftan, as a result a child after being cleared from quarantine at Taftan has been diagnosed as positive in Quetta.

'This shows that the screening system is weak at Taftan and the child declared as coronavirus patient at Quetta might have infected the quarantine area.'

This he said on Wednesday while presiding over 14thmeeting of Taskforce on Coronavirus here at CM House.

He urged provincial health department to make best arrangements for screening of the passengers at the Jinnah Terminal and request the Balochtan government to further strengthen its screening system of the pilgrims at Taftan.

There are 13 coronavirus cases in Sindh; of them eight have travel history of Syria, three have of Dubai and three of Iran. The health department has gotten 26 samples of coronavirus tested on Wednesday (today) and all of them have been declared as negative.

The Sindh government has conducted 187 tests of coronavirus suspects, of them 173 have been declared as negative while 14 diagnosed as positive.

The chief minister was told that a person was found unconscious near Jinnah Hospital and he had a passport in his pocket which showed that the passenger had returned from Iran by air on Wednesday (today). The patient has been hospitalized and his sample has been sent for lab test. At this, the chief minister pointed out that this showed that screening arrangement at Jinnah Terminal needed to be made more effective. However, he added that the passenger might have some other issue rather than of coronavirus. His test result is awaited.

The chief secretary told the chief minister that he has drifted 50 health workers at the airport. They would be performing duties in three shifts. Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho said that she along with her team visited airport and made necessary arrangements for developing quarantine facility outside the Immigration in 25 cubicles. This Civil Aviation Authority has agreed to develop the [quarantine] facility. Sindh health department and Indus hospital would provide technical support and human resource.

The chief minister was told that 142 suspects were still in quarantine at their home, of them 34 would be complete their mandatory isolation on Thursday, 66 on Friday, the March 13.

It was pointed out that 59 passengers belonging to different districts of the province...