Prime Minister Imran Khan gave approval to Pakistan Railways for suspending train operations until March 31 due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. The disease caused by the virus, COVID-19, has claimed six lives and infected more than 800 people across the country, as the authorities kick into action to stop the transmission of the virus. The government earlier retracted a notification issued on the shut down of the operations.
Police have taken into custody 90 people for violating the lockdown in Karachi on Monday as the cases were registered against 24 people for coming out of their homes for no valid reasons. The Sindh government has imposed a lockdown across the province in an attempt to stem the spread of coronavirus. All public places, offices, public transport and bus stands would remain closed for 15 days.
Prime Minister Imran Khan has ruled out the possibility of a countrywide lockdown amid coronavirus’s spread in Pakistan. He justified his statement saying that the country lacks the resources to feed daily wage workers for two weeks and said he would have gone for a lockdown if the country’s situation was like other countries.
To contain the spread of the coronavirus, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has asked banks to waive charges on any online fund transfers. SBP has instructed banks to waive all charges on fund transfers through online banking channels such as inter-bank fund transfer. They will also not incur any cost in case of using ATMs or visiting bank branches to transfer large amounts and can avoid the use of cash.
Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah has announced that the province will go into a two-week lock down at midnight tonight (March 22). The province has the highest number of cases in the country and the minister had already hinted. Citizens will not be allowed to leave the house unless it is essential and the ban also extends to places of worship.
Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has cancelled all its international flights till March 28. This move comes into effect tonight at 8pm. This does not mean that Pakistani airspace has been closed and the move is to curb the spread of the noverl coronavirus, clarified PIA spokesperson Abdullah Khan. He added that all flights are being cancelled and tickets will be refunded.
Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari called for a countrywide lockdown, as the number of coronavirus cases in Pakistan exceeded 370. Bilawal said that this was not the time to criticise the Prime Minister and we all have to jointly fight the virus. The PPP chairman said that self-isolation was necessary to contain the spread of the virus.
Pakistan on Thursday closed the Wagah Border temporarily in its bid to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus in the country. The border will remain closed for 2 weeks, according to the notification issued by the interior ministry. The moves comes after the increase in the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Pakistan.The moves comes after the number of confirmed coronavirus cases hit 329 in Pakistan.
The Sindh government has decided to convert the Karachi Expo Centre into a 10,000-bed hospital. The decision was made during a meeting of the provincial task force on coronavirus. The chief minister has also directed the authorities to distribute 2 million grocery bags among needy families. He observed that people seem worried about food availability in view of a partial lockdown in the city.
The Sindh government has released Rs7 billion to the health department to ensure it lacks no resources to contain the outbreak of the coronavirus. Previously, the amount was supposed to be given in second and third quarterly installments, but were given all at once on Wednesday. Of the total amount, Rs4 billion will be used to buy medicines.