Karachi witnessing surge in COVID-19 cases because of 'ideal weather', experts suggest

• About 1,235 new cases were reported when 13,008 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours in Karachi
  
• The port city's dense population with millions living in slums is another factor contributing to the surge of the virus
• Cold weather with moderate humidity in the range of 45% to 60% is the ideal weather for the virus spread

Health experts have opined that the surge in coronavirus infections reported in Karachi is due to the "ideal weather conditions" in the port city. Moderate humidity is most suitable for the spread of the virus.

Provincial health authorities said that 11 more people succumbed to coronavirus overnight due to COVID-19, raising the death toll to 3,755 across the province.

At least 1,235 new cases were reported when 13,008 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours in Karachi.

Read more: Karachi becomes most-affected city by coronavirus in Pakistan

According to a report published in The News on Friday, the port city's dense population with millions living in slums and regularly-held “super spreading events” are other contributing factors behind the surge of the contagious disease.

A professor of public health at the Health Service Academy, Islamabad said: Cold weather with moderate humidity in the range of 45-60% is the ideal weather for the spread of the coronavirus and that is why its cases are surging in Karachi where its positivity was 15% today as compared to the national positivity rate of 7%.

Dense population

The health professional highlighted that another contributing factor behind Karachi’s high positivity rate was its dense population where millions of people were living in areas and houses with little ventilation and space. 

“Super-spreading events are events where people are regularly interacting with each other without adopting any preventive measures, and this is happening in the bazaars, markets and other crowded places in Karachi."

"Combined with excellent weather and the dense population, this factor is helping the spread of Covid-19 in Karachi twice more rapidly as compared to the rest of the country,” he added.

Read more: Pakistan hasn't placed any orders for coronavirus vaccine yet: report

Peshawar has second place in the spread of Covid-19 in the country where the positivity rate was around 10%. He said that Pakistan’s positivity rate could be quite low if the spread of the virus was controlled in time in both capital cities.

Callous attitude of citizens and govt

Meanwhile, another health expert, Dr Tahir Hussain, said that apart from the carelessness shown by Karachiites, there was no serious effort made by any government agency to enforce the standard operating procedures (SOPs) announced by the provincial government.

“It seems they have given up. You can see that at weddings, markets and on the roads. They issue instructions just on paper but do nothing to enforce it."

"Enforcement requires honesty and dedication as the way is littered by corruption. It seems there is a public-private partnership in not enforcing the SOPs,” he concluded.