Staff Reporter
Transport Minister Sindh Syed Awais Qadir Shah on Wednesday demanded of Railways Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed to close down train service to and from the Sindh province amid fears of coronavirus spread. “As the Sindh has announced a ban on inter-city buses, the federal government should also ban travelling via train,” he said, adding that it was complicating the efforts to tackle the virus as many people from other provinces are arriving in the province unchecked. Shah said that the Railways authorities have no resources to deal with the situation as even their employees are not provided with masks to avoid coming in contact with the virus. “Thousands of people travel in the trains on a daily basis and it could become a cause of virus spread on large scale across the country due to lack of screening facilities at the stations,” he said. The minister, however, refuted reports of shutting down online bus services within Karachi and said that they have yet to make a decision regarding its closure. It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan’s tally of the virus has reached upto 247 cases with Sindh province witnessing most cases-181. The provincial government on Tuesday ordered closure of restaurants and shopping malls across the province for 15 days in an effort to curb the spread of the infection.
