Asif Shaikh
More mass quarantine facilities will be set up in Sindh on the pattern of Sukkur centre that can accommodate at least 10,000 people in isolation simultaneously, authorities said on Thursday.
The development comes after the total number of positive coronavirus cases in the province rose to 208. The facilities, authorities said, are being constructed at Expo Centre in Karachi, Jamshoro’s Nooribabad Industrial Area, Nawabshah, and Larkana.
Commissioner Karachi Iftikhar Shalwani said he had spoken to the federal government to set up an isolation centre and field hospital at Expo Center, Karachi, after receiving instructions from CM Shah.
The federal government has agreed in principle to do so, he added, and that some formalities were pending that would be completed soon. The CM then directed Shalwani to make necessary arrangements for beds and other required equipment. “This would turn to be a good facility in the centre of the city,” he said.
Moreover, the government of Sindh has decided to distribute two million ration bags across the province in a meeting to review novel coronavirus situation on Thursday.
A meeting chaired by Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, also attended by the Corps Commander Karachi, Chief Secretary and Secretary Health among others.
The rations bags will be stuffed with rice, wheat flour, ghee, sugar, tea, pulses and spices. The meeting also decided to establish a field hospital and isolation centre for Covid-19 at Expo Centre Karachi in collaboration with the armed forces.
It was decided that the teams of the government and the corps commander will work in tandem. The Sindh government team will be headed by provincial education minister Saeed Ghani, while Brigadier Samee will lead the team of the Corps Commander Karachi.
Murad Ali Shah said in the meeting that the coronavirus could be halted with minimum travel and continued screening, adding that Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea have controlled the rapid speed of the virus infection.
“It is a global crisis which demands the world leaders’ summit to devise a joint strategy to address the emergency,” chief minister observed. “We have taken all out steps to control transmission of the disease,” Shah said.
He called for ban on big gatherings and imposition of strict quarantine. “In Sukkur 151 people arrived from Taftan diagnosed positive.” Across Sindh 788 tests were conducted and 60 of them found infected with the disease, he said.
Murad Shah told the session that a third patient has recovered from Covid-19 in Sindh, which is a good omen.
