Balochistan shuts down schools till March 15 to prevent coronavirus outbreak

F.P. Report

QUETTA: Schools and educational institutes throughout Balochistan would be shut down till March 15 as part of the measures being taken to prevent coronavirus and for the safety of children, the provincial government said in a notification issued Wednesday.

The notification clarified that all public and private educational institutes, as well as madrassas, would remain closed after two coronavirus cases were confirmed in Pakistan — one each in Karachi and Islamabad.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Zafar Mirza confirmed late Wednesday that two coronavirus cases were reported in Pakistan. “Both cases are being taken care of according to clinical standard protocols & both of them are stable,” he wrote on Twitter.

Dr Mirza emphasised that there was “no need to panic [as] things are under control” and that no one should “share information of the patient”. The patient in Karachi, as well as his family, was immediately placed in quarantine at a private hospital on the National Stadium Road while the one in Islamabad was moved to the capital’s Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS).

The first confirmed coronavirus patient, a 22-year-old man, had arrived in an aeroplane from Iran and has a history of travel to Tehran from where he reportedly acquired the virus, a spokesperson for the Sindh health department said.

The health department was, as of reporting time, examining the passengers he has travelled with. It was also set to dispatch a team to inspect his residence as well as his neighbourhood.