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KARACHI: The Sindh government has issued new directives regarding the markets and trade centres for their timings and closure days.
The schedules issued by the Sindh home department on Friday impose new restrictions in a bid to curb the COVID-19 which will be made effective till May 16 (today).
Under the new instructions, trade activities will be completely closed on Saturday and Sunday, whereas, the timing of the markets and trade centres were also changed.
The markets and trade centres will be allowed to remain open till 6:00 pm. However, the shops selling essential commodities will be exempted from the restrictions.
All kinds of political, cultural, social and sports activities will be banned, as well as restaurants will be restricted to provide indoor dining facilities. Outdoor food facilities will be allowed from Iftar timing till 12:00 midnight.
After 12:00 midnight, restaurants and food shops will be allowed to continue home delivery and take away facility.
The home department asked the mosque administration to organize Taraweeh gatherings in open areas. The committees comprising representatives of local administration and clerics will implement the regulations.
Shrines, dargahs and cinema halls will be completely closed, whereas, indoor and outdoor wedding events will be completely banned. Inter-provincial transport services will also be closed on Saturday and Sunday, the notification read.
The coronavirus situation in Sindh is deteriorating with every passing day. The province reported 653 new cases of COVID-19 and eight deaths in the last 24 hours on Wednesday. This is the highest daily caseload since January 31 when the province recorded 812 infections.
Chief Minister Sindh, Syed Murad Ali Shah said in a statement that overall 12,982 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, out of which 653 returned as positive.
With fresh cases, the total provincial tally of infections has reached 2,70,470, while 4,541 people have died so far to the novel virus. There were 389 recoveries today, taking the number of recovered patients in Sindh to 2,59,388.
