Sindh Announces Restrictions; Asks Businesses To Shut Down By 6 pm

The Sindh government on Tuesday finally announced a range of additional coronavirus restrictions to contain the second wave of the pandemic that has gripped the province in the last month.

The announcement comes after a long delay as the number of cases in the provinces have risen multifold over the last month with the second-highest positivity rate in the country.

As per the official notification issued by the provincial government: wearing masks will be mandatory in public and private offices and all public places; indoor marriages will be banned while outdoor marriages will be restricted to 200 people and will end by 9 pm; 50p percent of the staff in all public and private offices will now have to work from home and ‘relatively broader smart lockdowns’ will be imposed in virus hotspots — first of which was imposed in Hyderabad on Monday.

Furthermore,  all indoor spaces, including business centres, gyms, and sports facilities, cinemas, theatres, and shrines will be closed as these places have been turned into Covid-19 nurseries; all businesses other than essential services including milk shops, pharmacies, etc will remain closed on Friday and Saturday; bazaars and businesses will remain open from 6 am to 6 pm — only 12 hours — on weekdays while they will be closed on weekends; and only outdoor dining will be allowed in restaurants until 10 pm.

Earlier, before the provincial government announced the aforementioned measures, Karachi Commissioner Shalwani had said that all restaurants in Karachi will not be allowed to offer indoor dining services starting tomorrow.

He also said that eateries will only be permitted to serve customers in open areas and will not be allowed to open restaurants. He also directed the deputy commissioners in their respective regions to ensure enforcement of the restrictions to help control the spread of the coronavirus.