Sindh government has announced its decision to impose new COVID-19 restrictions and block SIMs of unvaccinated people in the province.
As per details, CM Sindh Murad Ali Shah chaired a meeting of provincial COVID-19 taskforce on Friday a day earlier to review COVID-19 situation in the province.
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The forum decided to impose new COVID-19 restrictions in wake of recent spike in COVID-19 cases across the province, especially in Karachi.
Under the new COVID-19 restrictions;
- Indoor and outdoor dining at restaurants will be banned
- Shopping malls and markets will be allowed to remain open from 6 am to 6 pm
- All educational institutions will remain closed, but exams will be held as per schedule
- Marriage functions at wedding halls and other events will not be allowed
- Shrines will remain closed
- Fridays and Saturdays will be observed as safe days
- Offices and in public and private sectors will be allowed to remain open with 50% occupancy
The participants were informed that COVID-19 positivity in Sindh had reached 10.3%, whereas Karach’s positivity rate has reached 21.58%.
Separately, Sindh government has decided to block the SIM cards of unvaccinated people in the province. In its advice to NCOC, Sindh government has suggested a four-step strategy to implement the decision.
The action against unvaccinated people would be taken in four phases and initially, a warning would be sent to them to get vaccinated or face blocking of their mobile SIM.
In the second phase, the health department has recommended a ban on social media accounts of unvaccinated people. The calling services will be suspended in the third phase while the fourth phase will end up in complete blocking of mobile SIM.
The Karachi Tajir Action Committee (KTAC) — a body representing a large number of trade associations in the city — has resented the government’s decision to reduce market timings, saying the traders will not accept this “cruel” and “unwise” decision.
KTAC’s deputy convener Sharjeel Goplani, in a statement, demanded of the government to allow markets, shopping malls, hotels, restaurants, wedding halls and other industries to operate in compliance with the SOPs along with the one-day closure of businesses instead of two.
Meanwhile, Private school associations have rejected the Sindh government’s decision to close schools. Aleem Qureshi of the Grand Alliance of private school associations said the provincial government should announce a clear and unequivocal policy regarding educational institutions because schools and universities were supposed to start new academic sessions in August.
As many as 3,000 schools have been closed and 200,000 people have lost their jobs, said Aleem Qureshi.
