KARACHl: A middle-aged man living in the city`s Karimabad neighbourhood died at a private hospital where he was admitted 10 days ago after contracting the deadly Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF), taking the toll of victims of the disease in the city to five this year, officials said on Monday.

Officials identified the patient as Saleem Ullah, 49, who was admitted to the hospital on Aug 19, which transferred him two days later to its intensive care unit after he was diagnosed as a victim of CCHF.

`He died at the hospital on Sunday and the administration there informed us about that today [Monday]),` said a senior official in the Sindh health ministry.

Officials did not elaborate about how he contracted the virus however, they said an investigation had already been launched.

Saleem Ullah was the fifth victim of CCHF, and the fourth to have died in less than a month, officials said.

The day he was hospitalised the authorities had confirmed death of a trader at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) because of CCHF who had travelled from Bahawalpur, bringing sacrificial animals to the city ahead of Eidul Azha.

A 65-year-old man from Afghanistan died a week before him while a senior doctor from Bahawalpur died in a private hospital on July 31. The doctor too was infected with CCHF while treating a patient at his hospital.

Such deaths have alarmed local authorities who have started pulling together all resources to make sure that the hundreds of thousands of animals at the Superhighway are safe from the tick that transfers the lethal disease to humans.

Experts, however, said authorities in Sindh are miserably deficient in resources to inspect all animals arriving in the province ahead of Eid.

Sindh minister for livestock, Muhammad Ali Malkani, said he had directed the officials and veterinary doctors to ensure precautionary measures including spraying and fumigation with medicines to prevent the animals at cattle markets to be infected by CCHF.

Deputy director, livestock department, Muzaffar Ali Vighio said he had constituted special teams of doctors, paraveterinary, and field staffs who had been provided the necessary medicines to prevent the spread of the disease.

The provincial health authorities said they had sent an alert as well, asking all the relevant authorities to take measures and save millions of people in the teeming metropolis from the deadly disease that infected dozens of people in the last two years, out of which 10 did not survive.

In a directive, the government asked the concerned authorities to specify points for inspection of animals away from populous localities and proper sites to be allocated for animal markets.

In Karachi, officials claimed authorities were inspecting animals at the Toll Plaza or at the entry points of every city of Sindh.

Besides, the municipal authorities have been asked to ensure proper sanitation at the site of animal markets and make available proper supply of drinking water.

The Karachi Municipal Corporation has asked all visitors to the markets to wear light coloured clothes so that infected ticks from animals could be spotted easily.