Citizenry, rickshaw movements continue as more District East areas sealed off

As more areas of District East were sealed off in accordance with the orders of the district’s Deputy Commissioner Ahmed Ali to slow down local transmission of COVID-19, citizenry continued to venture in different areas on Tuesday evening.

Areas such as Baloch Colony, Khudadad Colony, Jacob Lines, and Gulshan-e-Iqbal’s Block-3, Block-6, Block-7 and Block-13D were sealed off with the help of containers and trucks or water tankers.

Several areas of Gulistan-e-Jauhar were also partially sealed off. A few apartment buildings, streets and housing colonies also remained sealed off in different areas of the district. Law enforcement officials were deployed inside and outside the mohallas of different areas.

The parts of the city that were sealed off fall under as many as eight different police jurisdictions. Union Committee-2 and three streets of Defence Housing Authority Phase-VIII were sealed off in the Baloch Colony police limits. UC-11 and Khudadad Colony’s two streets were sealed off in the Brigade police jurisdiction.

UC-9 and two roads leading from the University Road were sealed off in the Gulshan-e-Iqbal police limits. Abul Hassan Isphahani Road was sealed off with the help of containers and water tankers at Paradise Bakery.

Police placed containers at Maskan Chowrangi to close off entry into the nearby areas. Containers were also placed at Gulshan Chowrangi across Rashid Minhas Road to create hurdles for traffic movement.

Apart from the localities falling under 11 UCs in District East, no other part of the city was closed off. Despite the sealing off of different areas, movement of rickshaws, including a few of Qingqi make, were seen in different parts of District ­East.

A single-lane passage was left for emergency vehicles and for staff members of essential services in a few of the sealed off areas, but the localities around Jauhar Chowrangi and Jauhar Morr were completely closed off. A strict lockdown was also observed in District Central’s UC-15, UC-22, UC-24, UC-25, UC-45 and UC-47.

UC-15 covers Sector-11D/2 of North Karachi, UC-22 covers Hyderi in Block-F of North Nazimabad, UC-24 and UC-25 cover Sector-15A and Sector-15B of Buffer Zone, UC-45 covers Hadi Market, Nazimabad No. 3 and Nazimabad No. 4, and UC-47 covers Paposh Nagar.

Corona count

According to the data shared by the director general of Health Services, which operates under the Sindh Health Department, District East has the highest number (205) of Karachi’s novel coronavirus cases.

District East is closely followed by District South (191) and District Central (157), while the remaining districts of West, Malir and Korangi have reported 85, 74 and 60 cases respectively. Town-wise data shows Saddar Town in District South as the worst affected part of the city with 166 reported cases, followed by Gulshan-e-Iqbal Town in District East with 155 cases.