Sindh Government Imposes Lockdown Till The 8th Of August

In recent news, the government of Sindh has announced that it will be imposing a lockdown in the province from the 31st of July, which will be lifted on the 8th of August. This announcement came against the backdrop of authorities trying to mitigate the rise in the number of infections in the province, as the Delta variant gathers speed. 

The decision to impose the lockdown was taken in a meeting of the coronavirus task force of the Sindh government. They mulled over additional restrictions to be imposed specifically in Karachi, to curb the increase in the number of infections. 

As per the newly introduced measures of the lockdown, all the markets in the city will remain closed. However, pharmacies can stay open and function. The handout released by the office of the CM further stated that businesses working in the export sector will be permitted to operate during the entire duration of the lockdown. 

The relevant authorities have been instructed to snap-check vaccination certificates of those citizens who leave their homes. The members of the task force further decided that the salaries of those government employees will be withheld indefinitely who are not vaccinated until the 31st of August.

Where inter-city transport is concerned, it will not be allowed to operate during the nine-day period and government offices will also stay closed from next week onwards. 

The meeting on Friday was presided over by Murad Ali Shah, the Chief Minister of Sindh, who informed all the relevant stakeholders about the current situation of the coronavirus in the country. Members of the opposition, as well as the business community, were also invited to attend. This was done in order to increase cohesion between the provinces, in the words of the CM. 

Dr. Kazim Jatoi, the Health Secretary of Sindh, informed the forum of the fact that the positivity rate of the deadly disease had increased to 13.7% in the province. He noted that 45 patients had lost their lives in the last 24 hours. As of now, there are 39,958 active cases of the coronavirus in Sindh, out of which 1,410 are in hospice. 1,192 of these active cases were also reported to be in critical condition. According to Jatoi, there are currently 102 patients on ventilators. 

The positivity rate of the coronavirus is 23% in Karachi, followed by 14.52% recorded in Hyderabad, and 2.9% in the city of Sukkur. The whole of District East currently has a positivity rate of 33%. The positivity ratio of Korangi stands at 21%, whereas Central reported its own to be at 20%. 

Doctors present at the meeting asserted that the situation of the pandemic in the province was readily deteriorating, which had led to an added pressure on government hospitals. CM Murad also said that he had had a meeting with some of the religious clerics in the city and had informed them of the ongoing coronavirus situation. Various provincial ministers had been in attendance at the meeting.