Sindh Province closes private and public universities until July 31

Karachi: The Sindh Ministry of Interior issued a notice on Saturday that public and private universities in Sindh will be closed until July 31 because the provincial government has increased containment measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

The Sindh provincial government announced a day ago that after the province’s positive rate exceeded 10%, it would re-impose coronavirus restrictions on the province from Monday.

The decision was made at the provincial coronavirus task force meeting chaired by the Chief Minister of Sindh Province Murad Ali Shah.

New restrictions that will be implemented from Monday

• Educational institutions will be closed from July 26th to 31st.
• The exam will proceed as planned.
• Offices-private and public-operate at 50% capacity.
• All activities and parties are “totally prohibited”, including indoor and outdoor weddings.
  
• All public places are kept closed to tourists.
• The restaurant prohibits indoor and outdoor dining
• The restaurant provides take-out service until 10pm and delivery service until 12am.
• Business hours are from 6 am to 6 pm.

The notice stated that independent grocery stores, dairy stores, bakeries, fruit/vegetable suppliers and pharmacies are not restricted.

These restrictions will be reviewed in a week.

The Provincial Department of Health informed the meeting that the province’s positive rate had risen to 10.3%, and the situation in Karachi was particularly bad, with a positive rate of 21.58%.

CM Shah observed that the coronavirus situation in the province is indeed worrying and warned that the situation will deteriorate after Eid al-Fitr, where there is a habit of large gatherings.

Health Minister Kazim Jatoi told participants that 85% of the patients admitted to the Sindh Provincial Hospital had not been vaccinated.