Sindh govt mulls sealing coronavirus hotspots

Commissioners ordered to identify areas to be locked down for 15 days

KARACHI: As Covid-19 cases continue to rise in the province and people continue to flout standard operating procedures (SOPs), the Sindh government decided on Monday to seal virus hotspots for at least 15 days, in accordance with the World Health Organisation’s recent guidelines.

In a meeting with Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Fazl Pechuho and all of Sindh’s divisional commissioners, it was pointed out that many citizens were failing to follow the requisite SOPs put in place to curb the spread of the coronavirus, putting others at risk and increasing the burden on the government.

“There are certain areas in Karachi which will be sealed for at least 15 days,” an official privy to the development told The Express Tribune, adding that the residents of these areas were not complying with government orders.

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According to the official, these localities included Lyari, Gulshan-e-Iqbal and Nazimabad, among others. “The city commissioner [Iftikhar Shallwani] has been given the task of identifying exactly which placed will be sealed in the port city,” he added.

The commissioners of Hyderabad, Sukkur, Mirpurkhas, Shaheed Benazirabad and Larkana have similarly been ordered to identify Covid-19 hotspots within their divisions in the next 24 hours.

“The identified areas will be completely locked down for two weeks. No one will be allowed to go enter or leave these neighbourhoods,” the official explained, further stating that these restrictions would be relaxed for 15 days afterwards. “We need to contain the spread of virus and it is not possible without a strict lockdown.”