Grocery stores to close in Sindh at 5pm from today

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that locally-transmitted cases of the coronavirus have now become 10 percent of the total cases.
"This is a dangerous trend, and, therefore, we have to contain it further by observing necessary precautionary measures and honouring the government's decision of lockdown.
"Therefore, I have decided to cut the operational hours of the grocery stores and shops by three hours from Saturday."
This he said while presiding over a meeting here at the CM House.
The meeting was attended by Minister Health Dr Azra Pechuho, Chief Secretary Mumtaz Shah, DG Rangers Major-General Omar Bukhari, Home Secretary Usman Chachar, Brigadier Sami of Corps 5 and Dr Bari of Indus Hospital.
The chief minister said there were 168 cases of the coronavirus, including the returnee pilgrims in Sukkur and Larkana. Of the total number of the cases, 102 were locally-transmitted cases.
"This shows that local transmission is still progressing. Therefore we all have to observe a complete lockdown otherwise we will not be in a position to control it," he said.
Shah said that the people had to realize the gravity of the situation.
"We had decided to close shops from 8pm to 8am, but people started taking unnecessary benefits and kept roaming around," he said.
"I have decided that shops, including groceries, etc would operate from 8am to 5pm from Saturday," he said.
He directed IG Police Mushtaq Maher to implement the order.
Talking about offering congregational prayers in different mosques, the chief minister said this was a difficult decision and was taken with a heavy heart. "The decision was taken after proper consultation with the Ulema of different schools of thought and other stakeholders," he said. "The decision is aimed at saving people from local transmission," he added.
Shah said that he himself offered Friday prayers at his home.
"At home I kept following the Imam of our mosque who was leading the Juma prayer in the mosque on the loudspeaker, and we should all follow such observance," he said.
Shah directed the IG of Police to further tighten the lockdown, disallowing people to move about without any solid reason.
COVID-19: The number of cases of the coronavirus in the province stood at 440 till Saturday evening.