Sindh government against relaxation

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said on Wednesday that six more people died of coronavirus in the province in the last 24 hours while 45 patients were in a critical condition, and 150 new coronavirus cases had emerged.

"This is why the government has extended the lockdown by another 14 days, and we are going to make it stricter to save our people from the virus."

This he said at a press conference at the auditorium of the Sindh Assembly building here.

He was flanked by provincial ministers Saeed Ghani, Nasir Shah, Imtiaz Shaikh and Mukesh Chawla and Advisor Murtaza Wahab.

The chief minister said that with the death of six more coronavirus patients, the death toll had reached 41, 2.4 percent of the total patients.

"Our death ratio is higher than the ratio in some other countries of the world," he said.

"We are counting only those deaths which were tested as positive, but there are 15 unexplained deaths which also stemmed from the coronavirus symptoms," he said and added if those deaths were counted then the number of deaths would increase to 56.

Giving details about the 15 unexplained deaths, the chief minister said that their lungs had the same shape of the lungs of the coronavirus patients.

"The experts after examining their cases have concluded that they were also coronavirus deaths," he said.

"Our patient recovery rate is 33.6 percent," he said.

He said that out of 122 people of Tablighi Jamaat, 110 recovered and returned to their homes.

He said that 5,000 people of Tablighi Jamaat had been isolated, and "we have decided to conduct at least 1,000 tests daily".

If the lockdown had been imposed 15 days earlier as he had suggested, the situation would have been different, the chief minister said.

He said that some union councils of Karachi's district East had a large number of coronavirus positive cases so the deputy commissioner sealed 11 union councils.

Pillion riding: Sindh chief minister announced ban on pillion riding. However, women had been exempted but children would not be allowed.

The chief minister gave details about his meeting with the federal government representatives and the issues that came under discussion.

Plumber shops: The chief minister said that he proposed to the federal government not to open plumbing shops, hairdressers, electricians and tailoring shops because they were located in markets, and it would be unreasonable to allow some shops to start operation and stop others.

Moreover, he said that when the cloth markets were closed how would the tailors get cloth for stitching?

He said he had proposed that the plumbers and electricians be allowed to be summoned through phone calls instead of opening their shops.

Automobile industry: Shah said he opposed opening of the automobile industry because it had not been so necessary when the country was passing through a very critical phase of its history.

Domestic flights: A proposal on starting of domestic flights came under discussion. "All the provinces, including AJK PM, said that there was no need of resuming domestic flights when intercity and intra-city passenger bus services have been suspended. Therefore, it was agreed to keep domestic flights suspended for the next couple of weeks."

Construction industry: The chief minister said that the prime minister was of the view that after agriculture sector the construction sector has a large-scale employment. Therefore, he urged its opening.

Shah said that he proposed opening of activities auxiliary to construction, namely, manufacturing of cement, steel and such other activities. These activities would be allowed after fulfillment of SOPs by the factory management. He said construction on site would be allowed when permission was sought from the district administration under a particular SOP. Prayers at mosque: The chief minister said that he wanted the prime minister to announce SOPs for mosques. The prime minister in his address said that he would talk to the Ulema of different schools of thought before announcing the SOP. On Tuesday some Ulema for whom he had lot of respect had announced to open mosques unilaterally.

"We have not banned offering of prayers in the mosques but an SOP has been worked out in consultation with the Ulema that there would be a very limited Jamaat of four to five people and this needs to be continued," he said.

The holy month of Ramazan is also approaching, therefore he (the chief minister) has constituted a committee of his cabinet members to talk to the Ulema and their meeting would start from today.

"We in consultation with the Ulema and religious leaders will develop a code of conduct for Jamaat, Tarawih and other prayers in the mosques," he said.

Industrialists: The Chief Minister said that the industrialists were also supporting the government for which he was thankful to them. He assured them that he would resolve their issues on priority basis.

He said that an SOP has been issued for factories, particularly those which had export-related setup.

Rs12 billion ration: The chief minister said that over all his government had released Rs12 billion which included Rs3 billion the government employees had donated.

"Some people are saying that the Sindh government has spent Rs8 billion on rations which is also wrong," he said.

Shah said that whatever amount had been utilized was placed on the website of the finance department.

The chief minister said that Imran Khan is the prime minister of Pakistan, and he is most welcome to visit Karachi whenever he wants to.

"This is his city, but he must follow the SOP and should not gather a crowd of people around him," he said.