The Malir deputy commissioner has placed 44 houses and areas on micro-lockdown after a surge in COVID-19 cases has taken the number of positive cases in the district to 330.
For violating the standard operating procedures (SOPs), 41 restaurants across Karachi have been sealed on the orders of Commissioner Sohail Rajput between late Friday night and the wee hours of Saturday. Seven shops in different markets and two wedding halls have also been sealed.
Considering the recommendations of Malir’s district health officer, the deputy commissioner has ordered a micro-lockdown until October 15 in accordance with the powers conferred by Section 3(3) of the Sindh Epidemic Diseases Act 2014.
Twelve active coronavirus cases have been reported in the Jafar-e-Tayyar Cooperative Housing Society, 11 in the Malir Cantonment, five in a house in Askari-V, five more in Malir Colony, four in the Port Qasim area, three in the Bin Qasim area, three more in Gulshan-e-Hadeed, two in Saeedabad, and one each in Shadman Town and Sherpao Colony.
Violators
According to the data shared by the commissioner’s office, 146 restaurants in the city have been sealed and fined over Rs0.7 million between September 30 and October 2 over their non-compliance with the SOPs. Two restaurants in Jamshed Quarters were sealed on Saturday and eight others were issued with warnings on Saturday. Ten grocers, pharmacies and factories were sealed and fined over Rs1.8 million during the three days. Four educational institutions and nine wedding halls were also sealed. In District South, 62 wedding halls were inspected and fined Rs20,000.
Thirty restaurants were inspected in District East, 14 in District Malir and 12 in District West. Nine were also inspected in District Central, where five were issued with warnings and two were sealed. Forty were inspected in District Korangi, where 10 were issued with warnings and seven were sealed.
Twelve educational institutions were inspected in District South, where four were sealed. Twenty-five were inspected in District West, where nine were issued with warnings. Six were inspected in District Central and three in District Malir, where all of them were issued with warnings.
Seven shops, pharmacies and factories were inspected in District South, where four were sealed and three were issued with warnings. Four were inspected in District East, where one was fined and three were sealed.
Eighteen were inspected in District West, where nine were fined and three were issued with warnings. Twenty-two were inspected in District Central, where 11 were issued with warnings and three were sealed. Thirteen were inspected in District Korangi, where six were issued with warnings.
Lockdowns
On Friday the East deputy commissioner had placed parts of five areas in the district on a micro-lockdown until October 17: Al-Mustafa Apartment, Gulshan-e-Iqbal; Askari-IV, Gulistan-e-Jauhar; Gulistan-e-Jauhar Block-13; Al-Khaleed Tower on Shaheed-e-Millat Road and parts of Martin Quarters.
In District Korangi, a micro-lockdown was imposed until October 15 in UC-33’s Korangi No. 2 area, UC-11’s Al-Falah Society, pars of Shah Faisal Colony, UC1’s Shadman Town, a house in Darakhshan Society and a house in Quaid Malir. The total number of infected persons in the district was reportedly nine.
After five staff members of a private bank on Zamzama Boulevard in DHA Phase-V tested positive, the area was sealed until all the employees tested negative and the premises were thoroughly disinfected.
On Thursday Block-A of the Creek Vista Apartments in DHA Phase-VIII, which is located in District South’s Civil Lines subdivision and has seven active cases among a population of 702, was sealed.
Saddar Town’s Askari-III neighbourhood, which also has seven active cases among a population of 487, was sealed as well. The lockdown in these areas would remain in effect until the number of active cases is brought down to zero.
District Central’s deputy commissioner ordered a micro-lockdown in his jurisdiction. The order to control the movement of people would remain in effect until October 14.
District Central has 45 active cases right now. Four of them have been reported in North Karachi’s Sector 11-B, Sector 5C-1 and Sector 11-A, where the micro-lockdown has been imposed.
Twenty cases have been reported in North Nazimabad, where different houses, streets and blocks have been locked down. Liaquatabad and Gulberg have reported nine and 12 cases respectively.
The micro-lockdown has been ordered on the recommendation of the Central district health officer in view of the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the areas mentioned above.
On Wednesday the District West deputy commissioner had placed two areas of a union council in the Manghopir neighbourhood on a mini-lockdown. This was the first such order for any part of the city since the Government of Sindh had lifted the initial lockdown, which had been ordered in as early as March.
The assistant commissioners of the sub-divisions concerned have been directed to devise implementation plans and enforce the lockdown, penalise the violators and make decisions in coordination with the relevant deputy superintendent of police and station house officers to resolve the day-to-day issues.
The assistant commissioners have also been directed to provide logistic support to implement the lockdown in close coordination with the Sindh Health Department and the law enforcement agencies.
The assistant commissioners have been told to take the chairmen of the union councils, members of the peace committees and renowned philanthropists of the areas concerned on board.
According to the lockdown order, various standard operating procedures (SOPs) will be enforced. Anyone entering or exiting any of the affected areas will wear a mask. The movement of people residing in such areas will be strictly restricted.
Only grocers, convenience stores and pharmacies will be allowed to stay open in a specified duration of time, but all the other business activities will remain closed, including all kinds of industrial units in the affected localities.
No home deliveries will be allowed from any eatery. Only one person from a family will be allowed to go outside to buy food items and medicines, and they must show their original CNIC to law enforcement officials.
Only one attendant will be allowed to accompany a person in need of medical care. No private get-together will be allowed. Anyone leaving their house must have a valid reason to do so. Pillion riding has also been strictly banned.
All public transport as well as vehicles of ride-hailing services will also be not allowed to ply any of the roads in the affected areas.
The government has vowed that it will make every possible effort to provide people with mobile dispensaries as well as mobile utility stores in the areas affected by the lockdown.