Sindh reports shortage of COVID testing staff amid Pakistan’s claim of controlling pandemic

Amid Pakistan’s claim of having controlled the spread of coronavirus in the country, reports of Sindh facing a shortage of COVID-19 testing staff have surfaced.

According to local media reports, the capacity of conducting coronavirus testing in hospitals and medical centres in Sindh has reduced to 50 per cent mostly because a majority of the staffers have been infected with the virus.

The Sindh health department has been quoted as saying that thousands of test results were put on hold in several laboratories including Civil, Jinnah, Ojha and Karachi University due to shortage of staff.

The home-based testing facility in the province has been shut down for over a week.

Meanwhile, a National Command and Operation Centre’s (NCOC) report has said that in the past few days 4,000 to 5,000 cases were being reported daily but now the number has gradually declined.

An official of the National Institute of Health was quoted as saying that the number of tests has indeed reduced in the past few days.

“It can be the outcome of smart lockdowns or maybe we are moving towards herd immunity due to which now less number of cases is being reported,” he said.

As per the latest update, Pakistan has confirmed a total number of 194,068 cases of coronavirus, while 3,920 deaths have been reported.