Pilgrims returning from Iran brought to quarantine camps
Our Correspondent
Sukkur
Sindh is dissatisfied with the precautionary arrangements for novel coronavirus at Pakistan’s Taftan border with Iran, provincial infromation minister Nasir Hussain Shah said. Talking to media he requested the federal government to sent the citizens from Sindh directly to the province for quarantine arrangements at Sukkur.
He said that screening and other arrangements for novel coronavirus are insufficient at Taftan border. He said Sindh has decided to provide food items to the people at their homes under the food security programme if the situation worsens due to spreading novel coronavirus. The chief minister of Sindh has already issued orders to the effect, he further said.
Replying a question he said the educational institutions and religious schools will remain closed across the province, which will likely to reopen in April. But the school holidays could be extended if required. He said the government has imposed ban over wedding halls and gatherings and not on the Nikah ceremony.
Sources privy to the development on Saturday revealed that two buses carrying pilgrims from the Pakistan-Iran bordering area of Taftan arrived in the city. The Sukkur health authorities have taken all the pilgrims to quarantined isolation camps where they will be kept for a minimum of 14 days. Sources further revealed that the pilgrims will be tested on seven different stages through seven different tests formulated for coronavirus detection.
Earlier in the day, rampant violations of the principles of public hygiene have been reported at quarantine centres set up for the people returning from Iran at Taftan border crossing. Pakistan had announced the closure of the border with Iran after a large number of cases of novel coronavirus reported in the neighboring country. Pakistan’s government established isolation camps at the border for the pilgrims returning from Iran as a precaution to avoid the contagious virus spreading in the country.
