From Zeeshan Mirza
KARACHI: Adviser to the Sindh Chief Minister Murtaza Wahab on Monday warned that the Covid-19 situation in Karachi had become very “dangerous, alarming and concerning” ahead of the upcoming Eidul Azha holiday.
Addressing a press conference in Karachi, the adviser noted that the city’s positivity rate had increased to 23.12 per cent in the last 24 hours when it was 8.5-9pc 10 days ago.
He said Covid-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs) weren’t followed by people after the Sindh government relaxed restrictions which led to the positivity increase. “Now Eidul Azha is coming and it’s a very dangerous, alarming and concerning situation in Karachi,” he added.
He called upon the public to follow SOPs for “your own benefit” and get vaccinated. “The government doesn’t want that there is strictness and we impose restrictions again because when we do then sometimes the PTI says something and sometimes the MQM (Muttahida Qaumi Movement) does but no one thinks about doctors, health workers and hospitals,” he said.
Wahab said that people were falling ill in large numbers, turning towards hospitals and getting hospitalised, adding that “the situation is again developing to a dangerous extent.” Reiterating the need for everyone to get inoculated, the adviser said vaccines were present in “ample numbers”. Without vaccinations, he said the government would be forced to take “strict decisions”.
“I want to tell citizens that the situation today is dangerous and concerning and if in the next few days we don’t adhere to the SOPs then these numbers (positivity rate) can become more dangerous.
“If they become more dangerous and there is no longer space left in hospitals then the citizens will face the loss. We all need to understand the dangers of Covid-19 irrespective of politics on the basis of humanity, support our government, follow SOPs, adopt social distancing and wear masks,” Wahab stressed.
