‘Stricter lockdown’ in DHA, old city areas

Three teams added to testing squad; help sought from LHWs

KARACHI: The administration of Karachi's South district has reportedly decided to tighten the lockdown in Defence Housing Authority (DHA) and old city areas such as Saddar and Lyari, amid reports of violations in the past few days.

This was conveyed in a meeting chaired by South Deputy Commissioner Irshad Sodhar and attended by senior police officials of the district along with senior medical consultants here on Sunday.

The local administration has also decided to set up a 100-bed isolation centre at Lyari General Hospital to treat patients of Covid-19. Besides, four more isolation centres would be established at Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital in the next phase.

Moreover, the help of lady health workers is also being sought to carry out door-to-door screenings and raise awareness about safety measures.

Sindh govt to begin rapid testing in hotspots of Karachi’s South district

Around 300 people have tested positive for novel coronavirus in the district so far while 70 of them have already recovered from the contagious disease. The remaining have been placed under quarantine, including 50 at the isolation centre at the Expo Centre, he said.

It was decided during the meeting that mobile testing would be conducted with the help of the hospital's laboratory, which will cover all localities of South district including Saddar, Lyari, and Garden. Three more testing teams have been initiated in this regard, while walkthrough gates will be installed at three locations in the district.

The decision comes a day after the Sindh government decided to conduct random rapid tests for coronavirus detection in the capital city's South district. The results of these tests, of which 300 will be carried out in a day, can be acquired in 10 minutes.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 20^th, 2020.