2,255 cases reported in 24 hours: Sindh seals malls, markets

Ag Agencies

KARACHI: The police on Wednesday sealed the city's major markets — including Zainab Market — over the shopkeepers' failure to adhere to safety protocols to guard against the spread of the coronavirus.

After the government announced an ease in restrictions beginning May 9, all major retail outlets and markets had rushed to open stores on Monday. The past two days have witnessed a flurry of shoppers throwing caution to the wind and rushing to acquire much sought-after goods with Eid fast approaching. Neither shopkeepers nor customers were seen taking necessary precautions such as wearing masks and using sanitisers frequently. Today, in view of these violations, the city's police sealed all major markets, much to the chagrin of shopkeepers who had been looking forward to selling their wares after a two-month hiatus.

A raid by district administration authorities was conducted in the city's Saddar area, after which Zainab Market and Madina City Mall were shut down.

Besides Zainab Market, Victoria Market, International Market, Gul Plaza and Arham Shopping Centre were also sealed off.

According to Assistant Commissioner Asma Batool, the shopkeepers were neither wearing masks, gloves, nor using sanitisers.

The traders protested heavily against the shutting down of shops and raised slogans against the district administration.

Videos that have gone viral on social media clearly show no social distancing protocol being practiced, even during the protest.

Following the closure of markets, All Karachi Tajir Ittehad Chairman Atiq Mir in a conversation with Geo News, said the traders were responsible for following the SOPs set by the government.

“We had promised the authorities that the guidelines will be implemented but it did not happen. They are to be blamed themselves.”

Meanwhile, Sindh government has introduced an ordinance under which those found in violation of standard operating procedures (SOPs) and other coronavirus lockdown restrictions will be slapped with a fine of Rs1 million.

The COVID-19 Emergency Relief Ordinance, 2020, came into effect after Governor Sindh Imran Ismail — who earlier rejected the proposal — ratified it.

According to the ordinance, which was approved by the provincial cabinet on April 27, violation of any act mentioned in the ordinance will result in a fine.

Prior to this, the fine for violating the Infectious Diseases Act was Rs 3,000.

Failure to stem the spread of the pandemic would also be dealt with under the same ordinance, it read.

The text of the ordinance states that the officer concerned will be required to state the reasons for imposing the fine, while there will be a separate fine for repeated violations.

Meanwhile, following the continuous violation of SOPs and precautionary measures by the traders, the Punjab government is considering closing various markets in Lahore.

According to sources, a high level meeting was held under the chairmanship of Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Bazdar. The meeting expressed serious concerns over the situation in the markets.

Sources said that SOPs were being violated in markets and the proposal to close some markets immediately in being considered.

According to sources, the government is considering to close Hall Road, Shah Alam Market, Anarkali and Azam Market in Lahore, while there are no security measures at Ichhra Bazaar, Township Bazaar and other places.

Sources privy to the government said that the shops will be challaned in the first phase and then the shops will be sealed as SOPs do not seem to be implemented.

On Tuesday, Punjab government had threatened to re-impose a lockdown if the businesses continue to flout SOPs issued by the government as a part of easing the restrictions imposed to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Speaking at the LCCI, Provincial Minister for Industries and Commerce Mian Aslam Iqbal said that the actions of the traders are not pleasing and are affecting the efforts of the government to control the outbreak of COVID-19.

The minister said if traders continue to disregard the SOPs agreed on before easing the lockdown, Punjab government won’t think twice about re-imposing the lockdown. This time around, however, the lockdown will be stricter than the previous one.

Mian Aslam Iqbal said Lahore has become the centre of the coronavirus in Punjab and the locally transmitted cases of the virus are increasing the country, adding that the traders must show a sense of responsibility to avoid the lockdown reimposition.

He said the lives of people have been put on stake for a few rupees. “I am tired of advocating for traders, but they have cross all the limits,” he said and added the attitude of the responsible people is beyond comprehension.

The provincial minister appealed that children should not be allowed in the markets while guards should be posted in the shops and markets, adding that all shopkeepers should arrange hand sanitizers.

Mushtaq Paracha adds from Nowshera: The Pakistan Tobacco Company and its labour colonies in Akora Khattak were locked down on Wednesday after 44 of the workers reported positive for the coronavirus.

Briefing media, Deputy Commissioner Shahid Ali Khan said that he had directed the company to conduct the test of 800 workers and staff members for the coronavirus.

The official said that 44 out of 200 employees tested positive and 156 negative for the viral infection while the results of 600 workers were still awaited.

He added that the infected 44 employees were quarantined at the Government College of Technology in Khandar locality.

Meanwhile, Punjab issued the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for barber shops, hair and beauty salons/parlours and gymnasiums and health clubs to be followed amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The provincial authorities have allowed them to resume operations after the restrictions in lockdown were eased from Monday.

The National Coordination Committee (NCC) had decided last week to begin a phased lifting of lockdown because of the effect it was having on the economy and an impoverished workforce.

Following the NCC decision, all the provincial governments allowed small markets to open with certain guidelines.

The Punjab government today issued three different notifications for the barbershops, hair salons and gyms providing detailed guidelines. The service providers are bound to ensure availability of hand sanitisers, soaps, masks and gloves for all the customers and workers.

Meanwhile, Pakistan reported a record number of 2,255 coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours, as the spread of the infection through local transmission showed a dangerous upward trajectory in a recent report published by the World Health Organisation Pakistan chapter.

The report presented a dismal picture in terms of local transmission cases in Pakistan, province by province, on a weekly basis.

The report showed that Balochistan had the highest rate of local transmission at 93 percent, and only 7 percent were imported cases.

At second number was Sindh, where 92 percent were local transmissions and 8 percent imported cases.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 84 percent were instances of the virus being locally passed on while 16 percent cases were foreign.

In the worst-hit Punjab, 15 percent were foreign cases while 85 percent of the reported cases had emerged through local transmission.

In Gilgit-Baltistan, 37 percent were imported cases while 63 percent were of local transmission. Meanwhile, in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, 17 percent were foreign cases while 83 percent were passed on locally.

Pakistan’s testing capacity has faced a downward trajectory after peaking at an estimated 13,000 on May 9, according to the report.

On May 10 and 11, the number of tests dropped, fluctuating between 11,000 to 10,000.

The report said that Pakistan had 1,140 new cases of the coronavirus on May 11, 2020, which showed a reduction in number from 1,991 cases reported on May 9 — around 42.71 percent.

The number of cases reported since the beginning of the outbreak was 35,303 with 706 deaths (as per the report’s filing time). According to the breakdown, 6,661 were confirmed cases of hospitalisation, with 281 reportedly in a critical condition.

The report estimated that 16,159 were positive cases either at home or isolation facilities.

It also said that 26.66 percent of the total cases, which stands at 8,555, were discharged after recovery.

As of May 13, Pakistan reported more than 34,000 cases of the virus with more than 700 deaths.

Meanwhile, death toll from the coronavirus has reached 275 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as eight more people died of the fatal disease on Wednesday.

Also, the number of infected people continued to rise as 231 more people were diagnosed with COVID-19, raising the number of positive cases to 5,252 in the province.

Sources in the three tertiary care hospitals in Peshawar told The News that they noticed had a rise in the number of patients on Wednesday.

Of eight fatalities, four took place in Peshawar, two in Nowshera and one each in Lower Dir and Khyber districts.

Peshawar continued to suffer from coronavirus as out of 231 positive cases reported from KP, 112 came from Peshawar alone. It has lost 164 people so far to Covid-19.

Two other districts in the Peshawar Division, Nowshera and Khyber also reported the highest number of positive cases in the province.

Nowshera recorded 19 cases while 15 positive cases were reported from Khyber.

The virus seems to have spread to almost every corner of the province as most of the districts reported positive cases.

Abbottabad reported 18 cases while Mansehra and Haripur recorded 10 each positive cases of coronavirus.

Other districts including Bajaur reported eight positive cases, Dera Ismail Khan five, Upper Dir four, Buner three, Swat one, Swabi four and Mardan three.

In KP, the majority of positive cases, 2399, are reported from the Peshawar Division, followed by the Malakand Division with 1259 cases.

In the Peshawar Division, 180 people have died of the infectious disease till date, 44 in the Malakand Division, 15 in the Hazara Division, 25 in Mardan Division, 7 in Kohat Division, and one person in DI Khan Division.

As of today May 13 2020, the case fatality rate (CFR) in KP was 5.23 as compared to yesterday's 5.31 (the most in the country) (confirmed cases: 5252 that is 231 new confirmed cases, deaths: 275 that is 08 new deaths which is still the most in the country.

CFR in Peshawar was 7.85 as compared to Thursday’s 8.10 (the most in any city of Pakistan) (confirmed cases: 2087 that is 112 new confirmed cases, deaths: 164 that is 04 new deaths which is still the most in the province.

The Case Fatality Rate has decreased in KP and Peshawar as compared to yesterday, 8 deaths have been reported in the last 24 hours in KP and 4 of them are from Peshawar which means Peshawar has contributed 50 percent of the deaths occurred in the province during the last 24 hours.