New Covid-19 restrictions in Sindh: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah Friday decided to close the indoor and outdoor dining at restaurants and marriage halls as well as shrines, recreational spots and educational institutions from July 26, in a bid to control the burgeoning cases of COVID-19 in the province.
Presiding over a meeting on provincial Task Force on Coronavirus, the chief minister said the takeaway service would continue with certain standard operating procedures.
He said the exception was given only to those educational institutions where examinations were being taken place. The business timing of markets should also be reduced from 6 am to 6 pm from Monday, he added.
He said pharmacies, bakeries and groceries would operate as usual but there would be two safe/closed days which are Friday and Sunday.
He said the government and private offices would remain functional but with 50 percent staff attendance, except those departments/organizations of essential services.
Sindh Secretary Health Dr Kazim Jatoi, briefing the meeting, said the overall corona cases detection ratio was recorded at 10.3 percent in Sindh but in Karachi it was 21.54 percent on July 22.
The chief minister said on July 16, the ratio was 14.27 percent in the metropolis which went on increasing to 21.54 percent on July 22.
“This is an alarming situation, and it should be controlled timely, otherwise, it may go out of the control,” he said.
The meeting was told that during the last one week, from July 12 to 19, District East had 29 percent cases, Korangi 17 percent, Central and South 15 percent each and West and Malir 10 percent each.
Analyzing 457 COVID cases, Jatoi said 35 percent of patients were infected in gatherings, 23 percent in marriage functions, 17 percent in international traveling.
In July, 307 COVID patients died, of them 201 or 65 percent on ventilators, 70 or 23 percent off ventilators, 36 or 12 percent at home, he added.
He said out of total 1,002 COVID patients admitted in the hospitals, 85 percent were non-vaccinated while 15 percent were vaccinated but the vaccinated patients had mild symptoms.
Another study of all hospitalized COVID patients was conducted which revealed that 76 percent had the first dose of vaccination and 24 percent were fully vaccinated. The severity of the infection was higher among the first dose patients than the fully vaccinated. This proved that the vaccination was necessary.
Jatoi told the meeting so far 6,720,997 doses of vaccinations had been received, of them 5,312,921 had been utilized.
The chief minister directed the health department to speed up the vaccination process through centers and mobile units.
He said he would review the COVID situation next week and may take more strict decisions if the situation remained the same.
The meeting, held at Chief Minister House, was also attended by provincial ministers, Saeed Ghani, Jam Ikramullah Dharejo, Law Advisor Murtaza Wahab, Parliamentary Secretary on Health Qasim Siraj Soomro, Inspector General of Police Mushtaq Maher, ACS Home Qazi Shahid Parvez, PSCM Sajid Jamal Abro, Secretary Finance Hassan Naqvi, Secretary Health Kazim Jatoi, Dr Bari, Dr Sara Khan of World Health Organisation, Dr Qaiser Sajjid, Vice Chancellor Dow University Dr Saeed Qureshi, representatives of Corps-5, Rangers and other organization concerned.
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