Pakistan can face complete lockdown, say reports as Covid-19 cases spread rapidly

There may be complete lockdown in Pakistan because the deadly coronavirus disease Covid-19 is rapidly spreading across the country, media reports have said. There are 730 positive cases of Covid-19 virus now within the state, the most (396) being in the southern province of Sindh. The Punjab province has 137 instances of Covid-19, Balochistan 103, Gilgit-Baltistan 56 and Khyber Pakhtukhwa 10.

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah urged people in Karachi on Saturday to self-isolate voluntarily for three days. The province has been under partial lockdown. The Pakistan government had recently said that several Covid-19 positive cases could see a burst as over 5,000 pilgrims who recently returned from Iran has spread everywhere the country.

These pilgrims were held at Pakistan’s Taftan border crossing (in Balochistan) with Iran, one amongst the countries worst affected worldwide by the virus, but due to negligence of officials in enforcing quarantine, the number of cases spiked.

As a result of the rapid increase, the govt. On Saturday suspended all flight operations for two weeks. The ban will remain in effect till April 4, consistent with a political statement.

“From 8 pm tonight, all incoming international flights are being suspended for two weeks,” said a government statement. National carrier PIA, however, is going to be allowed to bring back its planes. Cargo flights also will be allowed.

Railway Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad ordered a reduction in several trains running within the country from March 25. “We have decided to suspend 34 trains out of total 142 running within the country while another eight trains are going to be suspended from April 1,” he said.

Overall, 1.4 million people are screened thus far at entry points since the beginning of the outbreak, media reports said. The reports further said that minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi asked his German counterpart Heiko Maas for relief within the sort of repayment of loans so that the country can target managing the Covid-19 outbreak.

He told his German counterpart on the phone that united efforts were needed for managing the pandemic that has emerged as a severe challenge to the whole world, said media reports.