ISLAMABAD: The Sindh government informed the Supreme Court on Monday that it had increased the beddingcapacity ofheldisolationcentres to 11,680, that of intensive care units (ICUs) to 332 from 203 and high dependency units (HDUs) to 620 from 309, both in publicand private sectors.

In a report submitted to the Supreme Court, the Sindh home department explained that further expansion of such facilities had also been planned and it would be implemented in the coming days.

A five-judge SC bench, headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed, is hearing a case about measures being taken by the federal and provincial governments to combat the menace of coronavirus pandemic in the country.

At the last hearing on June 8, the Supreme Court allowed the federal and provincial governments to make independent policies in accordance with their strategies to cope with the threat of coronavirus.

The Sindh government explained that the Covid-19 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) testing capacity had also beenincreased to 11,486 in 21 laboratories across the province.

About the status of lockdown, it said the National Coordination Committee and the National Command and Control Centre had made a joint strategy to enforce targeted lockdowns commonly known as `smart lockdown` in localities/ areas experiencing massive number of Covid-19 positive cases.

About the current health situation in the province, the report said that the number of Covid-19 cases had increased exceptionally to 59,983 from 32,910 over the past two weeks to June 17 from June 3.

However, due to timely efforts by the Sindh government, the recovery rate has increased to 49.6 per cent from 49pc. With recovery of 29,693 patients and 916 deaths, the fatality rate in the province is 1.5pc.

The report explained that legislative efforts were also under way to ensure safety and security of sanitation staff at workplaces.

Earlier, during the June 8 hearing, the Supreme Court had emphasised that the provincial and local governments must ensure safety measures for protection and safety of sanitary workers performing their duties in hospitals and other parts of the country.

For the regular supply of safety kits/ personal protective equipment (PPE) to the sanitary staff throughout the year, all local councils have been ordered to allocate sufficient funds in the next year`s budget for the safety kits/PPE for sanitary staff.