Too soon to declare victory over Covid-19: Sindh CM

Murad Ali Shah stresses need for caution with Eidul Azha, Muharram approaching

KARACHI:

It is too early for the country to declare victory in its efforts against the coronavirus pandemic, cautioned Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Sunday as he urged people to get tested for the contagious disease.

Talking to the media, he said that while the government had managed to control the pandemic to an extent, it was not in full control. The conversation came as the Sindh government reported 1,713 new infections and 48 deaths over the past 24 hours, taking the total cases in the province to 105,533 and the death toll to 1,795.

Warning against complacency, the CM stressed the need to be careful over the next few months. "I fear that we think we are in control, but Eidul Azha and Muharram are coming up and people will gather, which may cause a spike in cases."

He further explained that restrictions had been imposed so that the spread of the virus could be slowed down, giving the authorities a chance to boost health facilities. "There were challenges at one point, when there was no space for patients in hospitals," he admitted, adding that the government had set up designated wards for Covid-19 patients.

The CM pointed out that there was no real treatment for the virus yet. "Until there is one, we have to identify and trace patients, test them and, if they have Covid-19, we have to trace their contacts to stop the spread of coronavirus too," he stated.

He also noted that though Sindh had the highest testing capacity compared to other province, he was still not satisfied with it and while the health department was working on increasing it, the current capacity was not being utilised because people were not getting tested.

Resurgence of polio

Shah also raised concerns about the recent surge in polio in the country, claiming that it had almost been eradicated from Pakistan but cases were now springing up again due to a serious mistake by the federal government in the immunisation process last year.

According to him, children in Gilgit-Baltistan were administered expired polio vaccines, which should have been discarded, during vaccination drives in 2019, causing further spread of the poliovirus. He asked media representatives to investigate where the vaccines had been imported from and who was responsible.

Discussing administrative and financial irregularities in the Centre's anti-polio programme, he claimed a social media personality had been appointed as its national coordinator and had destroyed the system in place.

JIT reports

Responding to questions about the recently released joint investigation team reports pertaining to Lyari gangster Uzair Baloch, the Baldia factory fire and former Fishermen's Cooperative Society chief Nisar Morai, the CM claimed controversy was being created about them in order to distract people from Pakistan's actual problems.

"The JITs were constituted by the Sindh government and the original documents are the ones in the possession of the Sindh government," he maintained.

Withholding tax

Turning to the provincial government's refusal to collect withholding tax for the Centre, Shah said the federal government and the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) treated the provinces in a way that they would not even treat international donor agencies. "The country is not run by the federal government alone, but by the provinces together," he pointed out.

"The FBR is a failed institution and instead of reorganising it, the chairperson is changed every six months," he criticised. "It makes deductions directly from the provinces' funds when it fails to achieve its tax collection targets."

He further demanded that the provinces be given the authority to collect sales tax on goods.

Power crisis

Moving on to the electricity crisis, the CM said hours of load-shedding by the Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (Hesco) and Sukkur Electric Power Company (Sepco) augmented K-Electric tyranny.

"We suggest that Hesco and Sepco be given under provincial administration," he said, adding that the power crisis would not be ended by statements alone.