Sindh govt announces closure of grocery shops at 5pm from tomorrow

Decision comes after local transmission of novel coronavirus reaches 10% of total positive cases in the province

KARACHI: With the local transmission of novel coronavirus reaching 10% of the total positive tests in Sindh, the provincial authorities have decided to curtail three hours in the operating during of grocery shops and stores from Saturday (tomorrow).

Earlier, the Sindh government had decided to close the shops from 8pm to 8am, but now groceries stores will be shut from 5pm to 8am as 440 cases of the contagious disease have emerged across the province.

“We have to contain the spread of virus by necessary precautionary measures and by also honouring the government's decision of lockdown,” Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said while expressing concern over the increase in local transmission of COVID-19 cases.

The decision was taken in a meeting presided over by the chief minister at the CM House in Karachi, which 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.

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Talking about the locally transmitted cases, CM Shah mentioned there were 168 cases of coronavirus, excluding of pilgrims in Sukkur, Larkana, of them 102 were of locally transmitted. “This shows that the local transmission is still in progress, therefore, we all have to observe complete lockdown, otherwise we will not be in a position to control it.”

Irked by citizens flocking into markets and not comprehending the gravity of the ongoing crisis, he said: "We had earlier decided to close shops from 8pm to 8am but people have started taking its unnecessary benefits and keep roaming here and there.”

He added, “Therefore, I have decided that shops, including groceries, etc would operate from 8am to 5pm from Saturday [tomorrow]."

Shedding light on his earlier decision of banning congregational prayers in mosques across the province, the chief minister said the decision was taken after proper consultation with Ulemas of different school of thoughts and other stakeholders. “The decision was taken to save people from the local transmission of the disease.”

He also directed IG police and other officials to further tighten the lockdown to avoid the spread of local transmission of the contagion.

The provincial government had imposed the lockdown from Sunday. Meanwhile, retail shops were allowed to operate, however, with people flocking into the markets, a decision was taken on Tuesday to limit the operating hours of the shops from 8am till 8pm.