Pakistan's Sindh province tightens COVID restrictions ahead of Eid

KARACHI: The provincial administration of Sindh on Thursday decided to implement COVID-19 restrictions across the province more strongly as health authorities warned that Karachi alone had recorded a positivity ratio of 14.32 percent.
The decision was announced at a time when hundreds of thousands of residents in the seaside metropolis thronged markets on Thursday afternoon due to limited shopping hours, causing extreme traffic congestion.
Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah decided to close all shops, including grocery stores, after 6 p.m. while chairing a meeting of a COVID-19 taskforce. He also announced that restaurants would not be allowed to offer takeaway facility after iftar during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
“We will further tighten the enforcement of standard operating procedures after Sunday by closing Hawksbay, Sea View and other such recreational facilities for visitors,” he was quoted in an official handout circulated by the CM House.
The meeting was told that new coronavirus infections were on the rise in Karachi where the positivity ratio stood at 14.32 percent “which was quite dangerous.”
It was also pointed out that COVID-19 cases were on a decline in Hyderabad, another city of the province, where new coronavirus cases had declined to 11.92 percent on Wednesday from 20 percent on 29th April.
According to the provincial administration, authorities had tried to implement health safety precautions by imposing a fine on 627 people in Karachi on May 5. The district administration of the city also sealed 64 shops, arrested seven people and warned 369 others.
“People do not understand the situation,” the chief minister told the meeting. “One should only leave one’s residence for valid reasons after taking necessary precautions these days.”
The participants of the meeting urged the chief minister to talk to the federal government to ban passenger train services during Eid holidays to further prevent the spread of the virus.
Provincial health minister Dr. Azra Fazal Pechuho told the meeting that authorities in Sindh had revived quarantine facilities at local hotels and enhanced virus testing. She added that import of small-scale oxygen generation plants was also in progress.
Meanwhile, traders in Karachi expressed their disappointment at the provincial administration’s decision, accusing the health authorities of aggravating the situation by limiting the number of shopping hours that crowded the markets.
“If the markets are following their usual routine, it doesn’t lead to congestion and it is also easier for us to deal with people,” Shafiq Ahmed, a shop owner at Tariq Road, told Arab News. “Now the whole city is here to shop, and you can look at the situation.”
Agreeing with the traders, Sobia Shah, a costumer, said she would have done her shopping somewhere at night in normal situation.
“Now everyone wants to shop during the few hours available to them,” she added.