A day after banning congregational prayers at mosques to arrest the spread of novel coronavirus, the Sindh government on Friday ordered all grocery shops and stores to shut by 5pm from Saturday (Today).
Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said all grocery shops across the province will be closed by 5pm instead of 8pm. “The local transmission of coronavirus cases has become 10 percent of the total tested cases. This is a dangerous trend therefore, we have to contain it further by observing necessary precautionary measures and honouring the government decision of lock down,” Murad Shah said. “Therefore, I have decided to curtail the operation hours of the groceries shops and stores by three hours from Saturday.
The CM was presiding over a meeting here at CM House. The meeting was attended by Minister Health Dr Azra Pechuho, Chief Secretary Mumtaz Shah, DG Rangers Major General Omar Bukhari, Home Secretary Usman Chachar, Brigadier Sami of Corps 5 and Dr Bari of Indus Hospital. The chief minister said that there were 168 cases of Corona virus, excluding of pilgrims at Sukkur, Larkana, of them 102 were of local transmission. “This shows that the local transmission is still progressing, therefore we all have to observe complete lock down, otherwise will not be in position to control it,” he said.
Shah said that our people would have to understand gravity of the on-going situation. “We had decided to close shops from 8 pm to 8 am but people have started taking its unnecessary benefits and keep roaming here and there,” he said and added, therefore “I have decided that shops, including groceries etc would operate from 8 am to 5pm from Saturday,” he said. He directed IG Police Mushtaq Mahar to implement the order.Talking about ban on congregational prayers in mosques, the chief minister, this was difficult decision and was taken with heavy heart. “This decision has been taken after proper consultation with Ulemas of different school of thought and other stake holder,” he said and added “this decision is aimed at saving people from local transmission,” he said.
Shah said that he offered Friday prayer at his home. “At home I kept following the Imam of our mosque who was leading the juma prayer in the mosque on loud speaker and we should all follow such observance,” he said.The CM directed the IG Police to further tighten the lock down and don’t allow people moving here and there without any solid reason. Earlier, the govtt of Sindh has shared detailed notification, which mentions that the lockdown in the province will not affect personnel of Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) and medical staff appointed at hospitals, among other persons.The notification states:
“There shall be a complete ban on movement of people including intercity and inter provincial travel or gatherings of any kind for social religious or any other purpose at any place public or private including all offices public or private situated within the territorial limits of province of Sindh.
