Viral infections and diseases continue their on-slaught in flood-affected areas of Sindh as 7,055 Diarrhea, and 6,713 Malaria cases have been re-ported in the province.
According to a report issued by the health department in Sindh, a total of 7,055 new Diarrhea cases, while another 8,226 skin infec-tions were reported in the province.
The report read that 9549 respiratory infections were reported in the province while 6173 cases of Malaria were reported amid heavy floods and rain-fall in the country. How-ever, 19 more dengue cases were reported in Sindh in the last 24 hours.
Sindh government added that 14,871 patients were treated in the last 24 hours, while 45,209 patients were provided medical aid. Stagnant floodwaters, spread over hundreds of square kilometres (miles), may take two to six months to recede in some places and have already led to widespread cases of skin and eye infections, diarrhoea, malaria, typhoid and dengue fever.
The crisis hits Pakistan at a particularly bad time. With its economy in crisis, propped up by loans from the International Monetary Fund, it does not have the resources to cope with the longer-term effects of the flooding.
Nearly 1,700 people have been killed in the floods caused by heavy monsoon rains and melting glaciers. Pakistan estimates the cost of the dam-age at $30 billion, and the govern-ment and United Nations have blamed the catastro-phe on climate change.
Over 340 people have died of diseases caused by the floods, authorities have said. Mean-while the spread of different diseases continues rising in the flood-affected areas of Sindh.
It is learnt that the outbreak of malaria and gastroenteri-tis is getting out of con-trol in Shahdadkot.
Another 10-year-old child has died of malaria, taking total death toll in the area to 36. In Hyderabad district, various diseases continue to be reported in the relief camps set up for the flood-hit people.
