From Zeeshan Mirza
KARACHI: Sindh Education Minister Saeed Ghani on Monday demanded to ban inter-provincial transport including air and rail from Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa amid a sharp increase of COVID-19 cases. Coronavirus can rapidly increase in Sindh if people continue to commute from Punjab and KP, Ghani said while addressing a press conference in Karachi, here today.
He said the situation in Sindh is under control in terms of COVID-19 cases, but it can go worse if the inter-provincial transport continues to run. On the closure of primary to middle classes in the province, Saeed Ghani said the classes have been closed temporarily as a precautionary measure to save children from the pandmeic.
He made it clear that students will not be promoted to the next classes in Sindh, this year, without appearing in the examinations. On Sunday, the National Command and Operation Centre had suspended inter-provincial transport for two days a week (Saturday and Sunday), after sharp rise in coronavirus cases. The NCOC had restricted inter-provincial public transport only on weekends. However, cargo trucks, containers, medical and emergency services would be exempted from the restrictions.
Meanwhile, as the country’s Covid tally touched over 5000 mark, the Sindh province on Monday reported only 308 cases of the infection and one death during the past 24 hours.
According to the routine daily COVID-19 numbers shared by Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, the province reported a single death during the entire day, bringing the overall fatalities from the virus to 4,510. “The number of people who got affected from COVID-19 so far stands at 266,925,” Murad Ali Shah said adding that currently, 5,518 active Covid-19 patients are present in the province. “As many as 191 patients recovered during the past 24 hours,” he said.
The chief minister further said that 267 patients are said to be in critical condition while 32 are on ventilators. “Out of the total reported cases in Sindh today, 186 belong to Karachi,” he said.
Pakistan’s COVID-19 tallyCoronavirus has claimed 43 more lives in Pakistan during the past 24 hours, taking the overall death toll to 14,821. The latest statistics of the NCOC showed the COVID-19 has claimed 43 more lives and 4,323 fresh infections were reported during the period.
During the period of a day, the total count of active cases was recorded at 61,450 and the positivity rate stood at 9.96 percent. The health facilities across the country conducted 43,362 coronavirus detection tests, taking the total number of COVID-19 tests to 10,446,697 since the first case was reported. According to the statistics, 19 patients were declared critical, adding to the total number of patients suffering from sensitive health conditions up to 3,587.
