Sindh govt decides to impose complete lockdown from Sunday

KARACHI: The Sindh government has decided to impose a complete lockdown from May 9 due to the spike in coronavirus cases during the third wave of the pandemic, ARY News reported on Thursday.

However, the provincial government will allow the opening of trade centres across Sindh including its capital Karachi on Friday and Saturday. The Sindh government announced to impose the complete lockdown from May 9 (Sunday).

Train services will also be closed from May 9 to May 15. The provincial government said that Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah will discuss the lockdown strategies with the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) head Asad Umar.

Read: Punjab decides to impose complete lockdown from May 8

Moreover, the government will establish check posts across the province to restrict the public movement.

Earlier in the day, the Sindh Transport Minister Awais Qadir Shah announced the closure of public transport from May 8 to 16. Transport Minister Awais Qadir Shah has stated that the inter-provincial transport, inter-city and tourist transport will be closed in the province during the said period.

The decision, however, will not be enforced over the public transport within the city, he added.

The province had earlier requested the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) to impose a ban on inter-provincial transport.

Read: AJK govt notifies complete lockdown following NCOC directives

Moreover, the provincial task force on combating coronavirus decided to ban takeaways from restaurants and allow only home deliveries after the sunset from Friday (tomorrow) to Sunday.

The task force took stock of the Covid-19 situation and decided to further tighten restrictions to contain the third wave of the virus.

The meeting also decided shutdown of grocery shops at 6:00 pm. Karachi’s beaches including Hawksbay and Seaview will remain closed during the Eid holidays.

The meeting also exempted pharmacies from business timing restrictions. While, vaccination centres in the province will operate round the clock.

It may be noted here that 966 new infections and seven deaths were reported in Sindh within a day. According to the chief minister, the total count of deaths has reached up to 4,698. 635 cases were reported in the provincial capital Karachi.