The administration of the Korangi district ordered micro smart lockdowns in three subdivisions late on Tuesday night. Interestingly, no such lockdown has been ordered in District East, which has been reporting the highest number of Covid-19 cases in Sindh on an almost regular basis.
A notification issued by the office of District Korangi Deputy Commissioner Irfan Salam Mirwani said that micro smart lockdowns have been ordered in the Korangi, Shah Faisal Town and Model Colony (Malir) subdivisions on the recommendation of the district health officer.
The lockdowns have been ordered in emerging hotspot areas with respect to the spread of the coronavirus and in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 3(3) of the Sindh Epidemic Diseases Act 2014. The restrictions will stay in effect until June 1.
The notification said that Zaman Town in the Korangi subdivision has reported two Covid-19 cases. In the Shah Faisal Town subdivision, Natha Khan Goth has reported two coronavirus cases and Al-Falah Society has reported one. In the Model Colony subdivision, UC-01 has reported three Covid-19 cases and Khokhrapar has reported one.
The notification also said that lockdowns were ordered in the respective lanes of the affected union councils after the district health officer identified those areas as coronavirus hotspots.
The notification warned that all the people entering and exiting the restricted areas will have to compulsorily wear a face mask, while unnecessary movement in the affected areas, riding pillion on motorbikes and commercial activities have been banned.
Covid kills 19 more
Covid-19 claimed 19 more lives in Sindh during the previous 24 hours, raising the death toll due to the viral disease in the province to 4,854. Meanwhile, 800 patients were under treatment at different hospitals, of whom the condition of 764 was stated to be critical and 53 of them were on life support.
In addition to 19 more deaths, 2,076 new cases emerged during the previous 24 hours after 20,421 tests were conducted, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said on Wednesday in his daily report on the pandemic situation in the province. He added that with 4,854 deaths, the Covid-19 fatality rate remained at 1.6 per cent.
Shah said the diagnosis of 2,076 cases against 20,421 samples constituted a 10.2 per cent current detection rate. He added that so far 3,883,951 tests had been conducted, against which 303,306 cases diagnosed, of which 91.7 per cent or 278,280 patients had recovered, including 611 during the previous 24 hours.
The CM said that there were currently 20,172 patients of Covid-19 in Sindh, of whom 19,347 were in home isolation, 25 in isolation centres and 800 in different hospitals.
According to Shah, of the 2,076 new cases, 1,260 were detected from Karachi, including 629 from District East, 258 from District South, 144 from District Central, 109 from District Malir, 95 from District Korangi and 25 from District West.
In the rest of Sindh, Hyderabad had 252 new cases, Sukkur 111, Jamshoro 51, Larkana 44, Dadu 34, Badin 28, Thatta and Umerkot 26 each, Mirpurkhas 21, Matiari 17, Ghotki and Khairpur 16 each, Shikarpur 15, Tando Muhammad Khan 13, Kamber-Shahdadkot and Shaheed Benazirabad eight each, Kashmore five, and Jacobabad had two new cases.
The CM urged the people of Sindh to abide by the standard operating procedures (SOPs) issued by the government.