Sindh Govt closes schools, colleges and varsities amid COVID-19 surge

Sindh government spokesperson Murtaza Wahab announced that all schools, colleges and universities will remain closed in the province due to the rising coronavirus cases in the provinces.

Wahab tweeted that Sindh government offices will operate with an essential staff of 20% only as the country battles a dangerous third wave of coronavirus. "All schools, colleges and universities shall also remain closed due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases," said Wahab.

The Sindh government spokesperson's tweet came after CM Murad Ali Shah chaired a meeting of the provincial Task Force on Coronavirus. The officials present in the meeting were briefed on the coronavirus situation in the province. They were told the province presently has 664 ICU bends with ventilators.

They were told that out of those right now 47 patients are on a ventilator. They were also told that oxygen plants are present at Dow University Ojha Campus, Trauma Centre and Gambat hospital. Following the meeting, a spokesperson of CM Sindh announced that government offices will be closed in Sindh.

He added that the secretaries have been ordered to summon their important staff only and rest should work from home. He also confirmed about the closure of educational institutes as announced by Wahab. The provincial government also announced that visits in the jails has also been banned due to the rising coronavirus cases. The spokesperson of CM Murad also announced that inter-city transport will be banned in Sindh from Thursday, April 29.

Meanwhile, as 500,000 more doses of Sinopharm vaccine arrived from China, the Sindh government's plan to import 10 million doses from the neighbouring country may take another few weeks to materialise as first such shipment is likely to arrive in the third week of May, officials and sources said.

A senior Sindh government official confirmed that the authorities had formally placed the order for 10m doses of the vaccine developed by CanSino Biologics but there were slim chances of an early delivery because of a huge demand.

In a recent communication between the two sides, it emerged that the order would be delivered in phases and the first shipment was not likely before the second or third week of the next month. "The two sides are in constant touch with each other," Sindh CM's Adviser Barrister Murtaza Wahab, who is also the provincial government's spokesman, told Dawn.

"The Sindh government is committed to execute its plan and make the vaccine available at the earliest. But the matter is linked with so many other things. The global demand is huge and many orders from different parts of the world have already lined up.

We have been informed recently that we would be able to get our first shipment by the second or third week of May. In the first phase, we expect the shipment of two million doses." The Sindh government had earlier this month announced its plan to order 10m doses of Chinese company CanSino Biologics' Covid-19 vaccine and in an immediate response it had sent a letter of intent to the AJM Pharma, which is the representative company for the Chinese vaccine in Pakistan, for its required doses of the vaccines.

Later, the Sindh government allocated Rs1.5b for the acquisition of the vaccine and a formal order was placed after the federal government allowed provinces to import the jabs independently.