Zubair YaqoobAmid coronavirus threat isolation wards have been established at Civil Hospital Karachi,
Aga Khan Hospital and Dow University’s Ojha campus on Friday. According to the Sindh Health
department officials, the kits and other related equipment to detect the virus have been provided to the
hospitals. Not a single case of coronavirus has been reported in Sindh province, so far, the health
officials said. The government is putting in place necessary safety protocols against the China-origin new
strain of coronavirus which has set off global alarms with Pakistani officials fearing if precautionary
measures are not adopted on time, then the spread of the mysterious illness in their country could not
be ruled out.Sporadic cases of the viral contagion have also been confirmed in around a dozen countries
as distant as France, Australia and the United States. “Owing to the presence of a large number of
Chinese in Pakistan and frequent travels between China and Pakistan, spread of the coronavirus in
Pakistan cannot be ruled out, if necessary precautionary measures are not put in place,” said a
statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office.Pakistan on Friday halted flights to and from China with
immediate effect, a civil aviation official said, as the death toll from a virus outbreak spreading in China
mounted and the World Health Organization called it a global health emergency. “We are suspending
flights to China until Feb 2,” additional secretary of aviation Abdul Sattar Khokhar told Reuters by phone,
adding the situation would be reviewed after that date.Earlier in the day, a Pakistani student who had
recently arrived in Karachi from virus-hit Wuhan had been shifted to a private hospital’s isolation ward
due to coronavirus threat.