A person with an umbrella walks on the ground of the Badshahi mosque to attend Friday prayer regardless of the lockdown after Pakistan shut all markets and public locations and discouraged massive gatherings amid an outbreak of coronavirus illness (COVID-19), in Lahore. PHOTO:REUTERS
KARACHI/LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: The Sindh and Punjab governments on Friday took additional stringent measures to include the unfold of coronavirus instances, decreasing the purchasing hours with a view to stem the native transmission of the illness, because the nationwide tally of instances crosses 1,300 mark.
The Sindh authorities on Friday ordered that every one grocery retailers and shops would shut by 5pm throughout the province from Saturday, curbing the sooner deadline of 8pm by three hours. Equally Punjab additionally directed all grocery shops to close by 8pm.
Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah stated that about 10% of reported instances within the province have been locally-transmitted, including that it was a “dangerous trend”. He additionally defended the federal government’s determination to ban on congregations in mosques, saying that it was “aimed at saving people from local transmission”.
Within the wake of a lockdown in Karachi, the primary vegetable market within the metropolis revised its enterprise hours, chopping the working hours by 12 hours. The market committee stated the wholesale market, which stays open for 24 hours, could be shut from 12 midday until 12 midnight.
Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar directed that every one retailers within the province, together with grocery shops, could be closed from 8pm to 8am ranging from Saturday. He ordered strict monitoring of the “coronavirus hotspots” and implementation of SOPs for “sensitive areas”.
Nationwide tally
The emergence of latest coronavirus instances in lots of components of the nation on Friday pushed the nationwide tally of the sufferers previous 1,300, with Punjab, for the primary time because the virus was first reported within the nation greater than a month in the past, surpassing Sindh.
Based on the Corona Monitoring Room of the Punjab healthcare division, the provincial tally stood at 448 at 9pm Friday. The replace got here hours after the Command and Management Centre stated that the variety of instances within the province had risen to 425.
Based on the Punjab replace, the very best variety of sufferers have been in Dera Ghazi Khan, the place 207 affected pilgrims had been quarantined. It additionally confirmed that two docs, serving the sufferers had additionally contracted COVID-19.
A spokesperson for the well being division stated that there have been 105 virus sufferers in Lahore, 46 in Multan, 22 in Gujrat, 19 in Jhelum and 14 in Rawalpindi. Different cities, the place the virus instances had been confirmed embrace Gujranwala, Faislabad, Rahimyar Khan, Narowal, Mandi Bahauddin, Sargodha, Attock, Bahawalnagar, Khushab and Mianwali.
The spokesperson stated that 4 coronavirus sufferers had died within the province, together with three in Lahore. One affected person died in Rawalpindi earlier this week. Up to now, the nationwide demise toll from COVID-19 had reached 9.
Earlier than the Punjab authorities’s replace, a breakup offered by the Command and Management Centre in Islamabad stated that variety of infections within the nation rose to 1,296 on Friday night.
The centre confirmed 440 instances in Sindh, 425 in Punjab, 180 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 131 in Balochistan, 91 in Gilgit-Baltistan, 27 in Islamabad and two in Azad Kashmir. Nonetheless, making an allowance for the newest Punjab tally, the variety of sufferers countrywide rises to 1,319.
A separate replace issued by the Sindh authorities stated 19 new instances have been reported within the province up to now 24 hours, elevating the provincial tally to 440. The brand new instances included 11 infections in Karachi, who have been all locally-transmitted instances.
The province, which beforehand reported infections in Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur and Dadu, now added Larkana to the listing of affected cities. The well being division confirmed 7 coronavirus instances, who had returned from Iran not too long ago.
The best variety of sufferers in Sindh have been in Sukkur, the place 265 persons are contaminated, adopted by 164 virus instances in Karachi, three in Hyderabad, 1 in Dadu and seven in Larkana. Up to now, there may be 1 fatality within the province, whereas the well being division stated 14 individuals have cured of the virus.
Within the federal capital, the variety of sufferers was rising steadily on the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), the place at current 9 sufferers are admitted, whereas 2 have been discharged after they received properly. The sources added that each the sufferers who’ve recovered had returned from Iran.
Amongst different sufferers, seven had journey historical past to UK, two every to Spain, Qatar, UAE, and Morocco, whereas one every to Saudi Arabia, France and Kyrgyzstan. The sources added that 1 coronavirus affected person had come from Karachi.
The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa well being division in its advisory confirmed 4 new coronavirus instances within the province on Friday night, elevating the provincial tally to 180. It stated Mardan was the worst-affected with 79 instances.
The replace issued by the Balochistan authorities late on Friday stated that the provincial tally soared to 131 as extra checks of sufferers got here optimistic. It stated that two sufferers had cured the illness within the province.
(With inputs from our Peshawar, Quetta and Gilgit correspondents)
