Staff Report
KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has categorically said that Sindh was not ending the lockdown on Monday and “we are entering the second phase of lockdown with some extra restrictions, particularly at hotspots.” he said in a statement issued from the CM House, the chief minister said that some media channels were giving the impression that the lockdown was ending on Monday, which was totally wrong.
Mr Shah said that “we are entering phase-II under which stricter controls at hotspots were being initiated.” however, minor exemptions would be given to some sectors such as construction phase-II, and isolated shops in neighbourhoods would be allowed to operate under SOPs issued by the government. He categorically added that air, train and public transport would continue to remain closed.
“Our lockdown is linked to our data,” he said and added that our provincial health capacity was currently at 20 percent. We would consistently adjust our protective measures according to our capacity.
Mr Shah urged the federal government to support all provinces, including Sindh in enhancing their testing capacity and expansion of their health sector.
The chief minister said that the federal government should extend cash support to daily wagers and low-income groups as it had funded BISP programme. He also asked the federal government to immediately advance loans to shopkeepers on soft terms and conditions so that they could pay salaries to their employees and meet their other expenditures.
The chief minister concluding his statement once again reiterated his stance of ensuring food security in the country under which the federal government had to start spray against desert locust, otherwise next crop would not be saved from [locust] swarm attacks, he said.
