Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry said that there was a need for precaution in Karachi, warning that if coronavirus standard operating procedures (SOPs) were not implemented properly in the metropolis, the effect on the rest of the country would be felt “very fast”.
During a press conference in Islamabad, Chaudhry criticised the Sindh government for lack of implementation on coronavirus SOPs. “If you look at the chief minister (Murad Ali Shah) and PPP, it seems like the whole of Pakistan is following their SOPs and policies. I will tell them to look at their own matters.”
Giving a countrywide breakdown of the percentage of compliance with SOPs, Chaudhry said Islamabad was ahead at 88 percent, followed by Azad Jammu and Kashmir at 82pc, Punjab at 69pc, Gilgit Baltistan at 67pc and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at 66pc.
“The least implementation of SOPs was seen in Sindh, especially in Karachi,” he shared, adding that this was why the province’s Covid-19 situation had not gotten better despite other provinces witnessing “stabilisation in the rate of cases”.
He said that Pakistan’s supply chain started from Karachi because of the port which was why the government was “very worried” about the Covid-19 situation in the city and the rest of Sindh. “The [Sindh] government has not been successful in implementing SOPs,” he said.
The minister said that a “lockdown” had been imposed on Eidul Fitr and it was expected that the coronavirus situation would “stabilise” as a result.
“The expectation is that the Sindh government will implement SOPs [as well],” he said, adding that it would lead to a reduction in the number of new cases in Sindh as compared to other provinces where infections had declined recently.
The minister said the federal cabinet, in its meeting, approved the provincial government’s request to deploy Pakistan Army in Sindh to help enforce SOPs.
