Sindh decides to keep schools open amid rise in corona cases

F.P. Report

KARACHI: The Sindh government has decided to keep the schools and other educational institutions open as the latest wave of coronavirus pandemic fuelled by the Omicron variant gripped the province especially Karachi.

The decision was taken during the meeting of the Sindh Corona Task Force held in Karachi under the chair of Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah on Saturday.

The meeting decided to keep the schools open continuing the educational activities.

The Task Force also decided to conduct a survey in all the hospitals including government and private to gauge their capacity of handling the growing number of Covid-19 patients and what else these hospitals need.

The Task Force maintained that wearing facemasks in public places was mandatory, which is also applicable on wedding halls, marquees and public places.

It was also directed that the guests at wedding halls should be served food in boxes. Only vaccinated people will be allowed to enter the markets and the administration must check the vaccination cards of the visitors, the Task Force added.

Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah warned that government officers who would not wear facemasks would be fined. It was proposed that the fine should be deducted as one-day salary of the violators.

The Sindh government also decided to accelerate the vaccination campaign through the province because the surge in coronavirus cases, as the chief minister said, was due to ignoring the standard operating procedures (SOPs).

Murad Ali Shah expressed the hope that the government would also overcome this wave if the public extends its support and cooperation.

Positivity ratio in Karachi

The megacity of Karachi was experiencing an explosion of Omicron infections as within days the positivity ratio has crossed 35 percent. Only in 24 hours, there was an increase of 6.5 percent in positivity rate.

Confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in Sindh have now climbed to 497,153; it reported 3,089 new infections on Saturday after conducting 15,719 tests, a positivity ratio of 19.6 percent.

The province reported no deaths and 2,339 recoveries, leaving 7,693 deaths and 471,845 total recovered. Overall, the province now has 17,615 active cases of the novel coronavirus.