Coronavirus: Sindh orders closure of govt offices, inter-city public transport

KARACHI: The Sindh government has ordered more closures as it banned the entry of inter-city public transport and barred employees of different government departments to curb coronavirus, ARY News reported on Wednesday.

The provincial authorities have issued notifications regarding the closures which will come into effect from Thursday (tomorrow).

The government has shut 25 departments from March 19 to April 03 in its latest decision. The departments include endowment services, college education, corporation department, culture tourism, manpower department, energy, environment, forest, wildlife, human right, social housing, science and technology, industries, panel, investment, fishery, mine and mineral, minority affairs, population welfare, school education, social welfare, sports and youth affairs, transport, university and board, women department and works and services.

Moreover, the provincial departments that will be functional during the period include local government, finance, health, information, home, labour and services and general administration.

Read: Coronavirus: Sindh minister demands Sheikh Rasheed to shut train service

The offices of commissioner and deputy commission will also remain open as the notification the provincial government will not apply to the remaining departments.

Ban on inter-city vehicles

The Sindh government has imposed a 15-day ban on the entry of inter-city passenger vehicles including buses and vans in the province with effect from Thursday (tomorrow) in order to stop the transfer of the COVID-19 from other parts.

According to the notification, the transport of goods related to essential items including foods, drugs and others will be exempted from the travel restrictions.

The transport department’s spokesperson confirmed that the inter-city public transport will be closed on Wednesday midnight 12:00 am.