Skip to main content

Karachi’s coronavirus lockdown succeeding means public has won: commissioner

Almost every major neighbourhood in Karachi has been put under a lockdown from June 18 to July 2 as coronavirus hot spots have emerged in these areas.

Forty union councils will have to follow the instructions. Anyone entering or exiting will have to wear a mask, movement will be restricted and no private family get-togethers will be allowed. No home delivery or take-away will be permitted from restaurants and no public transport or ride-hailing services will be allowed.

Grocery stores and pharmacies will be open during specific times as given by the home department on June 1. All other businesses have to stay closed. No factories can operate.

Karachi Commissioner Iftikhar Shallwani has advised people living in areas under the ‘smart’ lockdown to take 14-day leave from their offices because the authorities won’t allow them to leave their areas during the lockdown.

“If the people in those areas are working in offices, they will have to take leave for 14 days,” Shallwani had told SAMAA TV. He appeared on Naya Din on Friday to discuss the lockdown again.

These hot spots were identified via reports by law enforcement officers, deputy commissioners, assistant commissioners and the health department, he explained, adding that they were singled out because they reported the most coronavirus cases.

The reason for the two-week lockdown is to curb the spread of the infection. But he said they need the public’s help to make it a success.

We’re not against the public or shopkeepers, he clarified. “This is for a common cause. The success of this lockdown is everyone’s success.”

The World Health Organisation had recommended a two-week lockdown followed by a two-week easing, but it’s unclear what strategy the Karachi administration will follow. When asked if there was a possibility of a further lockdown, Shallwani said for now it’s just till July 2.

He also discussed the drive through testing facility in Karachi and said it was the first in South Asia. The cost of running and maintaining it is increasing, he said, before affirming that his administration would keep it running. However, it is being shifted to Lyari so more people can get tested. It was previously only accessible to people with cars, not middle and lower-middle class people, Shallwani explained.



from SAMAA https://ift.tt/3ehONWt
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Trump says he urged team to ‘slow’ COVID-19 testing

US President Donald Trump said Saturday he was encouraging health officials in his administration to slow down coronavirus testing, arguing that increased tests lead to more cases being discovered. The president has claimed falsely on several occasions that surges of COVID-19 in several states can be explained by greater numbers of diagnostic tests. At his first rally since the outbreak forced nationwide shutdowns in March, Trump told the crowd in Tulsa, Oklahoma that testing was a “double-edged sword.” The United States — which has more deaths and cases than any other country — has carried out more than 25 million coronavirus tests, placing it outside the top 20 countries in the world, per capita. “Here is the bad part: When you do testing to that extent, you are going to find more people, you will find more cases,” Trump argued. “So I said to my people ‘slow the testing down.’ They test and they test.” It was not clear from Trump’s tone if he was playing to the crowd, who ...
Post a Comment
Read more

IT ministry forms panel to review social media rules

ISLAMABAD: While uproar against the new rules to regulate social media continues from various segments of society, including parliamentarians, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) and civil society, the information technology ministry on Friday formed a committee to review the rules. The federal cabinet approved the rules on Feb 11, but later after opposition from various quarters, including companies that manage different social media platforms, the prime minister announced that a fresh consultation process would be launched over the Citizens Protection (Against Online Harm) Rules 2020. The committee formed by the IT ministry is headed by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority Chairman Amir Azeem Bajwa while its members are Eazaz Aslam Dar, additional secretary of IT; Tania Aidrus, member of the Strategic Reforms Imple­mentation Unit, Prime Minister Office; and Dr Arslan Khalid, focal person on digital media at the PM Office. Federal Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Ma...
Post a Comment
Read more

IS confirms Baghdadi’s death, vows revenge

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.—AP BEIRUT: The Islamic State militant group confirmed the death of its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a statement on Thursday and named his replacement as Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Quraishi. “We mourn you ... commander of the faithful,” said Abu Hamza al-Quraishi — presented as the group’s new spokesman — in an audio statement. Baghdadi, who led IS since 2014 and was the world’s most wanted man, was killed in a US special forces raid in Syria’s province of Idlib on Sunday. The group also confirmed the killing in another raid the following day of the group’s previous spokesman Abu Hassan al-Muhajir. The statement said the group’s legislative and consultative body convened after the 48-year-old Iraqi-born jihadist chief’s death. “The Islamic State shura council convened immediately after confirming the martyrdom of Sheikh Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and the elders of the holy warriors agreed” on a replacement, said the seven-minute message. Little is known abou...
Post a Comment
Read more