Govt to impose lockdown in several areas of Karachi after surge in COVID-19 cases

KARACHI: As part of precautionary measures to contain the spread of COVID-19, the Karachi administration has decided to impose smart lockdown in several areas of the megacity, ARY News reported on Tuesday.

According to details, five towns in District West, Karachi has been identified as virus hotspots and authorities have decided to put these areas under smart lockdown to control the spread of coronavirus. The five towns include Gadap, Baldia, Kemari, SITE and Orangi.

In a letter to Deputy Commissioner Karachi West, District Health Officer (DHO) Dr Shafique Ahmad identified 16 union councils in Karachi’s West where smart lockdown should be imposed.

In Kemari, UC-1 Bhutta Village which includes Saeedabad Masjid Road and Umer Khan Road, UC-2 Sultanabad which includes the Habib Public School street and UC-3 Kemari which includes Docks and Majeed Colony.

In Baldi, UC-3 Islama Nagar which includes Naval Colony, UC-4 Naiabadi which includes sectors 4C and 8B, UC-5 Saeedabad which includes Area 5G, 5J and A3.UC-6 Muslim Mujahid which includes Afridi Colony and UC-7 which includes Mujahir Camp and Kokan Colony.

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In SITE, UC-4 Metroville’s entire area has been identified as a hotspot while UC-6 Frontier Colony’s sectors 4 and 5 have been included. In UC-7 Banaras, Islamia and Subhani Muhalla have been identified.

In Orangi, UC-6 Ghaziabad’s Christian Colony, UC-11 Data Nagar’s area 7A/B sector 8 and UC-12 Mujahid Colony’s Millatabad, Gulfamaad Aligarh Colony have been identified as coronavirus hotspots.

According to reports, there are 70 positive coronavirus cases in different UC’s of Gadap, 100 confirmed cases in Kemari UC’s, Baldia Town has confirmed 269 Covid-19 cases, while Site area has reported 221 cases so far.

‘Larkana virus hotspots’

The district administration Larkana has also decided to seal 12 virus hotspots in the city due to the rapid increase in coronavirus cases.

In this connection, the Deputy Commissioner Larkana has issued a notification to seal several areas from tonight.

The areas which will be sealed include Shahi Bazar, Reto Dero, Jalbani colony, Bandar Road, Main Bus Stand area, Resham Gali. The areas will be sealed for 7 days.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah yesterday had sought proposals from the health professions to deal with the situation in the metropolis.

The chief minister also sought data of the coronavirus hotspots in Karachi, the sources said and added that the government is likely to seal the worst affected areas of the city.

The national tally of the cases has jumped to 148,921 with 4,443 new coronavirus cases reported in Pakistan during last 24 hours.

According to the latest figures released by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), 55,878 coronavirus cases have surfaced in Punjab, 55,581 in Sindh, 18,472 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 8,327 in Balochistan, 8,857 in Islamabad, 1143 in Gilgit Baltistan and 663 cases have been detected in Azad Kashmir, so far.