Lockdown declared in Pakistan’s Sindh Province

By Nasir Aijaz
The AsiaN Representative

Karachi: The Punjab government on Monday decided to enforce lockdown in the entire province for next 14 days to curb the spread of deadly coronavirus. The decision was taken by the cabinet committee.

Earlier, the provincial government of Sindh declared lockdown across the province on Tuesday closing all the restaurants, shopping malls, food streets, Seaview, public parks and government offices, except of essential services, for next 15 days effective from March 18, to contain the spread of coronavirus.

However, the grocery, milk, fish, chicken, meat and vegetables shops/stalls would remain open as usual and even if they want they can operate round the clock. The restaurants would be allowed to offer home delivery services.

The decision was taken by the Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah while presiding over a meeting of Taskforce on coronavirus.

The chief minister said that the coronavirus has started spreading through social contacts in the city and other areas of the province. “If we fail to take strict measures in time it is bound to affect the entire province and then our health facilities would fall short to provide medical treatment,” he said.

Another decision taken was to close inter-city bus service from Friday. Two days have been given to the visitors to return to their respective homes/cities and after that all the inter-city buses would be stopped from plying on their routes. The intra-city bus service however would continue as usual.

The hospitals would continue functioning as usual, however their OPDS would remain closed for 15 days. The hospitals would keep their emergencies open round the clock.

The chief minister decided that the restaurants would not be allowed to offer dining service, however they could keep their home delivery services continue. The dining facilities would also remain suspended for 15 days in all star hotels and clubs but they would keep their room services on as usual.

The total coronavirus cases in Sindh province have reached to 172. The number is feared to increase as lab test results of several suspected patients are awaited. Moreover, some 696 pilgrims from Iran are arriving on Wednesday aboard 17 buses, and all of them would be placed in quarantine to undergo tests.

Sindh government authorities cancelled nine flights scheduled to land at Jinnah Terminal of Karachi. Some 3922 passengers arrived through other flights and on screening of the passengers three were found suspects of coronavirus and were sent to quarantine and their samples sent for lab tests.

Following Sindh, the Punjab chief minister just now announced 14-day lockdown in the province. займы с 18 лет безработным