Observer Report
Chief Minister of Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah on Sunday announced to reopen markets in the province from Monday.All markets across the province will be opened except shopping malls, Shah announced in a press briefing.
The shops will be opened from 6:00 in the morning till 5:00 PM under the SOPs, the chief minister said.The traders will be responsible for enforcement and compliance of the SOPs, Sindh chief minister stressed.
He urged for special focus on maintaining social distancing. “We have to take more strict decisions in case of further increase in coronavirus infection cases.”The chief minister said that around 12,000 Covid-19 positive cases have been reported in Sindh.
“The lockdown has affected the business. Karachi is a city with big population so as more cases of the disease have been reported in it,” Shah said.“We had to take strict decision for maintaining social distancing during the prayers under the compulsion of the situation,” Murad Ali Shah said.
He said that around 1100 positive cases of coronavirus were reported in the province on Saturday, while over 700 cases also reported on Sunday.Earlier, Sindh government had decided to ease the lockdown from May 11 after federation’s decision to end the countrywide lockdown in phases starting May 9.
CM Murad had announced opening of limited number businesses in the province with certain SOPs, however, in his late night statement he had hinted to further tighten the lockdown in the province.
This contradictory statement of the CM baffled traders’ community in the province. Sindh government spokesman Murtaza Wahab had said that 4,215 tests were conducted during the previous 24 hours against which 709 came back positive. He said 61 people have recovered from the disease, taking the number of recoveries to 2,081.
