KARACHI: Majority of shops and businesses violated the rules and standard operating procedures given by the Sindh government on the first day of resumption of business activity in the province.
Large crowds were witnessed at retail markets – Saddar, Tariq Road, Liaquatabad and other areas – as shop and business owners continued their activities.
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said the virus claimed 11 more lives and there were 537 new cases in the last 24 hours.
In a statement issued from the CM House, the chief minister said 3,730 COVID-19 tests were conducted of which 14.4 per cent or 537 results returned positive.
The number of coronavirus positive cases has reached to 12,017 which is 12.6 per cent of the total 95,053 tests conducted so far.
The chief minister added that at present 9,668 patients were under treatment. “We have kept 8,178 of the patient under treatment in home isolation where our doctors advise them,” he said and added that 911 patient were at isolation centres and 597 at different hospitals.
Murad added that 96 patients or 16.6 per cent were in critical condition while 25 of them have been put on ventilators. He added that 68 patients have recovered and discharged from hospitals.
The number of patients recovered so far has reached to 2,149 or 18 per cent of the total detected cases in the province.
Sharing data of Karachi, Murad said that out of a total of 537 new cases, 432 belong to Karachi. They include 142 cases in Malir, 62 in district Central, another 61 in district East, 58 in Korangi, 58 in district South and additional 51 in West.
Expressing alarm, the chief minister said cases were spiking in the city, therefore he has decided to establish a COVID-19 hospital in Gulshan-e-Iqbal for which he has released Rs1.8 billion.
“It will be a 400-bed hospital with a 100-bed ventilator facility,” he said.
Talking about flights which brought back stranded Pakistanis, he said that so far, 2,951 passengers have arrived and 545 of them were Covid-19 positive.
“The positive cases are under treatment and being cared for properly,” he said.
Murad, given the breakdown of the other cases in the province, said that 22 cases were detected in Sukkur, 19 in Shikarpur, 11 in Kambar-Shahdadkot, eight in Tando Allahyar, seven in Larkana, four each in Hyderabad, Matiari and Sanghar, three in Jacobabad and one each in Badin, Jamshoro and Mirpurkhas.
He lamented that though markets and shops were opened under strict SOPs, most shops and markets were crowded and SOPs were not being followed.
Murad expressed hope that people would understand the gravity of the situation and follow the government guidelines.
According to the SOPs, the retailers would not allow any customer without face masks and there would be a distance of at least six feet between each person.
“The shop owner will deal with only one customer at a time.”
The SOPs further states that the retailers must keep hand sanitizers and check customers’ temperature through thermal guns, but except for a few retail outlets, the majority of shops lacked the facilities.
“After two months, the shops have been opened and Eid is around the corner. How can we convince a huge crowd to follow rules? Corona is now over. Nothing will happen,” a garment retailer on Tariq Road said.
