Sindh govt plans to impose curfew-like lockdown over rising coronavirus cases

KARACHI: Sindh Minister for Education Saeed Ghani on Saturday said that the province has decided to impose a curfew-like lockdown in the province amid rising coronavirus cases, ARY NEWS reported.

Divulging details of the decisions taken during the provincial task force meeting chaired by Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah, the education minister said the task force has recommended to impose strict restrictions during the lockdown.

“If we want to save lives, we have to move towards adopting a stricter lockdown,” he said adding that although it would not be a curfew but the restrictions in it would be just like a curfew.

He said that they do not have to decide over the lockdown keeping in view the decisions taken by other provinces.

The prime minister could save the employment but we have decided to save lives, Saeed Ghani said adding that they have sealed two areas in Malir and more areas of the district East would be sealed soon.

Earlier in the day, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said that 104 new cases of coronavirus surfaced in the province during the past 24 hours.

In a video released by his office’s Twitter account, CM Murad Ali Shah said that 531 new tests were conducted today and 104 of them turned to be positive.

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Expressing his concerns over the sharp spike in the cases of COVID-19, he said, “The number shows that 20 per cent of COVID-19 test conducted in the past 24 hours came out positive.”

“This is greater than the world average at the moment,” CM Murad said and added that six people were died of the virus today.

He said, “So far, 12,209 tests have been conducted for the COVID-19 and 1214 of them turned to be positive.”

The chief minister said that 371 of the diagnosed patients recovered and discharged from the hospitals. CM Murad said that lockdown is the only option to prevent the spread of coronavirus.