Educational institutions to remain closed for two days

KARACHI: The provincial authorities have decided to close all government and private schools across Sindh for two days, announced education minister Saeed Ghani on Wednesday night.

The announcement came after emergence of a coronavirus case in the Sindh capital Karachi today. However, Saeed Ghani’s announcement did not specify any reason for the closure of the educational institutions.

Ghani announced that all educational institutions will remain closed on February 27 (Thursday) and February 28 (Friday).

All Govt and private educational institutions will remain closed on Thursday & Friday (27th & 28th Feb). https://t.co/mo8mAVCcme

— Senator Saeed Ghani (@SaeedGhani1) February 26, 2020

This announcement was followed by the decision of Balochistan government that has extended its winter vacations till March 15 in view of two confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus.

According to Balochistan’s education minister, all the public and private educational institutions will remain closed till March 15. The step has been taken to prevent the students from the deadly virus, he added.

Read: Two cases of coronavirus reported in Pakistan

It is pertinent to mention here that the schools in Balochistan were scheduled to reopen after winter vacation on 1st of March.

Earlier, two cases of novel coronavirus have been reported in Pakistan on Wednesday night while the first case of COVID-19 emerged in Karachi from a citizen who flew back from Iran along with his family.

Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health, Dr Zafar Mirza, said in his Twitter messages today that two coronavirus cases have been detected in Pakistan.

Dr Zafar Mirza asked citizens to remain calm as both patients are being treated in accordance with the standard clinical protocols. He added that the lives of both patients are ‘stable’ and ‘all things are in our control’. The special assistant announced to hold a press conference on Thursday (tomorrow) over the emergence of coronavirus after coming back from Taftan.

220/ I can confirm first two cases of corona virus in Pakistan. Both cases are being taken care of according to clinical standard protocols & both of them are stable. No need to panic, things are under control. I will hold press conf tomorrow on return from Taftan.

— Zafar Mirza (@zfrmrza) February 26, 2020