Lockdown 2021 Diaries: 5th Day – Cases surge in Hyderabad

Business activities in Karachi remained suspended in Sindh except for essential items shops, like groceries and medical stores.

The war of words between Sindh’s ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and opposition political parties like PTI, Jamat Islami and MQM-P continued. Karachi Ameer of JI Hafiz Naimur Rahman criticised the provincial government’s decision to give powers to Police officers to impose lockdown SOPs. Earlier, those powers had vested to Assistant Commissioners or magistrates.

The federal education minister said in a press conference that federal government schools continue to run with 50 per cent attendance, whereas there will be no exams for compulsory subjects, while students would only take exams for elective subjects.  marks acquired by students in elective subjects would proportionately be given in compulsory subjects, along with an additional of 5 per cent.

Schools in Sindh will remain closed till August 8, the provincial education minister Saeed Ghani said in Karachi. The remaining intermediate exams in Sindh will take place after the coronavirus situation gets better, he stated.

According to the NCOC statistics, there is a letup in Coronavirus positive cases in two major cities – Karachi and Hyderabad. The positivity ratio in Hyderabad has touched 24 per cent, which is alarming, whereas this ratio in Karachi has hovered around 23 per cent for many days. Despite the lockdown, this positive ratio is not receding.

Rush is still being witnessed at the COVID-19 vaccination centres across the city. The provincial government has started operating mobile vaccination vans in different parts of the city.

The official figure indicated a total of 2,438 new cases emerged as 19,427 COVID-19 tests were conducted. Overall positivity of cases in the entire province remained at 12.5 per cent.