Coronavirus cases have continued their upward climb in Karachi to the point that the authorities are considering putting the city on complete lockdown again.
According to sources quoted by Dunya News, the metropolis’s coronavirus positivity rate has risen to 30%, however an official confirmation of this has not been made yet. The sharp uptick in cases, however, has caused medical experts and the Sindh Health Department to consider recommending a 15-day complete lockdown to the provincial coronavirus task force. Last year, the city was put on complete lockdown when the positivity rate had reached 26%.
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The final decision on the lockdown will be taken at the provincial task force meeting on Friday.
Health department officials say that 70 to 80 patients from Karachi are being put on ventilators every day. With this situation in view, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah has issued instructions to the officers in the task force meeting to consider implementing a complete lockdown.
Murad Ali Shah said that there should be no politics over coronavirus. He further reminded citizens that no one should leave the house unnecessarily.
Addressing a meeting of the coronavirus task force, the Sindh CM said that he has come to know that tuition centres were still operating in the city, which should not be the case keeping the current coronavirus positivity rate in view.
The meeting further decided that a final decision on implementing a complete 15-day lockdown in the city will be made in a meeting of the task force on Friday. It has been said that if the situation does not improve, the government will be forced to take this strict action.
Chief Minister also set up a committee of provincial ministers comprising Nasir Shah, Murtaza Wahab and Owais Shah to win the confidence of stakeholders and political parties on the matter of a possible complete lockdown.
The meeting that the coronavirus positivity rate in the province has reached 12.7% while in Karachi it reached 26.32%. In July, 362 patients died from coronavirus.
The meeting was also told that there are 686 ICU beds with vents in Sindh’s hospitals. The Chief Minister has directed for more coronavirus wards to be set up in various hospitals of the city.
