KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has suggested the National Coordination Committee (NCC) to impose a ban on inter-city transport for next two weeks to contain the dangerous third wave of Coronavirus, otherwise, the situation may aggravate further.
The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Imran Khan. The chief minister, along with his team, Minister Health Dr Azra Pechuho, Advisor law Murtaza Wahab, Parliamentary Secretary Health Qasim Siraj Soomro, ACS Home Usman Chachar, Adl IG Karachi Ghulam Nabi Memon, and PSCM Sajid Jamal Abro attended the meeting through video link from CM House.
The chief minister said that the third wave of coronavirus was very dangerous and was spreading furiously. “Though it is not as intense in Sindh as it is in other parts of the country, particularly in AJK, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and federal capital, yet we have to take some drastic measures to contain it,” he said.
Shah suggested that the NCC impose a ban on the movement of inter-city transport for next two weeks and during that time the goods transport would continue their operation as usual. “The third wave [of COVID) is very dangerous and has started spreading fast, therefore a ban on inter-city transport would help to contain it,” he suggested to the NCC.
The chief minister was assured that his suggestion would be discussed in the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) meeting to be held on Thursday. Shah said that the business centers operate under the SOPs so that local business activities continue as usual under the strict SOPs.
Murad also urged the federal government to start registering all the people of the province for vaccination. “We have to make necessary arrangements for procurement of COVID vaccine in bulk so that each and every individual of this country can be made secured,” he said.
He also informed the meeting that the Infectious Disease Hospital established by him Karachi for the treatment of COVID -19 patients was serving the purpose by performing well. “Our overall detection rate of COVID patients is 3.5 percent – this shows that we, the province of Sindh, are less affected but the travelling of the people in and from Sindh is bound to aggravate the situation,” he told the prime minister.