Sindh CM says 'want to close inter-provincial transport, not lockdown'

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said on Friday that the government was seeking the closure of only inter-provincial transport but not a complete lockdown, ARY News reported.

CM Murad Ali Shah made the statement while chairing the session of the provincial task force on coronavirus today.

During the session, a briefing was given to the participants regarding the government steps for curbing the spread of novel coronavirus.

It was stated that 68,877 tests are being conducted for one million population in Sindh and 3.3 million tests will be completed by Saturday. There are 664 ICU beds and ventilators in the provinces, whereas, the number of HDU beds is 1,872 and low-flow oxygen beds are 1,374.

Read: NCOC to mull over suspension of inter-provincial transport

Overall, 8,913 tests were conducted across the province on Wednesday and 237 cases were confirmed with the positivity rate recorded at 2.3 per cent. 265,916 cases were turned up in Sindh from which 256,384 patients have recovered.

The number of Covid deaths stands at 4,504 with the rate of 1.7 per cent of overall positive cases. The positive rate of coronavirus cases was recorded between 2.6 per cent to 2.66 per cent from March 26 to April 1.

The direction ratio in Karachi stands at 4.63 pc, 5 pc in Hyderabad and 1.57 in other districts. A representative from World Health Organization (WHO) briefed that the positive rate is 11.21 pc in Pakistan.

Read: CM says Sindh to take its own decision if NCOC rejects its recommendation

The provincial government then decided to compile one-month data of those who arrived in Sindh from the United Kingdom (UK).

CM Shah said, “We only want to close inter-provincial transport and unwilling to impose a complete lockdown. The third wave of coronavirus can be contained through the closure of inter-provincial transport. However, we want to continue the port activity and goods transport in Sindh.”

The chief minister said that Sindh could not solely decide for banning inter-provincial transport as a decision should be taken on the national level.