KARACHI: The Sindh government today (Sunday) has extended the business hours till 8pm from tomorrow (Monday), but made vaccination mandatory for the staff of all shops and markets.
“It will be mandatory upon all staff of shops to get vaccinated,” said Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah following a meeting of the Corona taskforce. Sindh Health Minister, Education minister Saeed Ghani, Senator Murtaza Wahab, Nasir Shah, police higher-ups, and other prominent government officials were also in attendance.
During the meeting, the chief minister revealed that on June 1, the ratio of coronavirus positivity in Karachi was 8.5%, while there were 12.45% cases in the city. In light of the number of cases in the province, the following important decisions were taken.
According to the directives, outdoor dining will be allowed until 12 midnight with social distancing. Marriage halls and outdoor weddings will be allowed after two weeks. Sea View and other beaches will be reopened.
The meeting was further informed that the positivity ratio was 11.06 per cent in Hyderabad on June 5. As of now, the participants were apprised that there were 79 Covid patients on ventilators in Karachi and two in Nawabshah. On the occasion, the CM directed the provincial health ministry to vaccinate 19 million people in the next three months.
Earlier this week, all trade-related associations of Karachi had decided to defy the Sindh government’s restrictions regarding opening of markets and shops beyond 6pm and announced that they would open all their businesses till 8pm from Saturday.
Earlier in the day, Shah announced that all teaching and non-teaching staff at educational institutions would have to be vaccinated if schools were to reopen. He said all shopkeepers would also have to get vaccinated and keep proofs of their vaccination at their shops.
The announcements came in the wake of Sindh reporting 722 new coronavirus cases and 11 deaths. The total number of cases in the province now stands at 323,072 and the death toll has risen to 5,116.
