SHANGLA: Traders across Shangla district voluntarily started lockdown by closing their shops and hotels amid fear of coronavirus outbreak while inter-district traffic on Karakoram Highway also remained suspended on Sunday. The Khyber district administration also shut down all markets and business centres in the three subdivisions of Bara, Jamrud and Landi Kotal while police in Landi Kotal sealed several shops for selling edibles and other necessary items at inflated rates.

In Shangla, the traders voluntarily shut their shops and hotels and suspended all other activities to avoid contracting the deadly virus.Master Hamidur Rehman, trade union president in Bisham, said that though the government had not decided lockdown yet, it was the only way to sensitise themselves and also the public to protect themselves from the coronavirus.

He said that shops, hotels and other business activities remained closed across the district, including Bisham city, Alpuri, Karora, Shahpur, Dandai, Chakesar, Puran.

Announcements on loudspeakers urge people to avoid rush in bazaars

Assistant Commissioner, Bisham, Khuram Rehman Jadoon, said that transportation on Karakoram Highway, Bisham-Swat road and other routes had been banned for next seven days.

He said that a suspected case was reported in Chakesar tehsil headquarters hospital and the patient was a preacher from Balochistan. However, there has been no confirmed case in the district as yet.

In Landi Kotal, the Khyber district administration arranged for at least 250-bed quarantine facility in its bid to tackle any emergency regarding emergence of coronavirus in any part of Khyber.

In a statement issued on Sunday, deputy commissioner Mehmud Aslam Wazir said that so far only one coronavirus case had been reported in the district and his administration in assistance of the health staff had successfully screened the entire locality in Shalobar area of Bara alongside restricting the suspected residents of the area to their houses. He said that all the local residents who had recently returned from Saudi Arabia after performing Umra had also been confined to their homes.

The statement said that the local clerics were also engaged to motivate residents to refrain from social interaction.

The administration on Sunday also shut down all markets and business centres in the three subdivisions of Bara, Jamrud and Landi Kotal while police in Landi Kotal sealed several shops for selling edibles and other necessary items at inflated rates.

The Kukikhel elders in Jamrud also announced to suspend their weekly jirga and remain indoors till the fear of coronavirus pandemic was over.In Mansehra, the deputy inspector general of police, Hazara range, Qazi Jamilur Rehman has directed district police officers across Hazara to ensure implementation of all precautionary measures announced by the provincial government to contain coronavirus in their respective districts.

“This was for the first time when we all district police officers were online simultaneously with DIG Hazara and he directed them to ensure implementation of lockdown and other measures to contain coronavirus in the division,”

DPO Sadiq Baloch the district police officer told reporters here on Sunday.In Timergara, the Lower Dir district health officer Dr Shaukat Ali and deputy DHO Dr Irshad distributed masks, gloves, sanitizers and hand wash bottles among health workers at Khall quarantine centre.

Assistant commissioner, Adenzai, Tariq Hussain also checked facilities at quarantine centre and expressed his satisfaction over the arrangements.

Also, announcements on loudspeakers were made in all big and small cities of the district, asking the residents to stay at homes and avoid rush in bazaars.In Kohat, adviser to the chief minister on information technology MPA Ziaullah Bangash and secretary general of PTI labour wing of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Waseem Shinwari have appealed to the people not to take the coronavirus threat lightly and avoid wedding ceremonies inside homes.

In social media messages, they asked all the district and tehsil level leaders to spread awareness among the people by visiting mosques to convey the precautionary measures to the people throughout Kohat.

They regretted that some shopkeepers were resisting lockdown and requested them to cooperate with the government.Mr Bangash said that the cities had been locked down to control the spread of the virus and 20-bed facility had been set up for the patients at the KDA hospital. A separate room had also been set up at the ICU.

He urged the people to follow the restrictions for a few days just for their own wellbeing.Besides, an isolation ward has been established at the charity hospital of national cricket star Shahid Afridi in Tangu Banda for the coronavirus patients. During his visit, Afridi himself inaugurated the ward.

He appealed to the people to take extreme precautions against the virus according to the guidelines of the government. He said that the people should strictly follow social distancing and wash hands several times a day.

Published in Dawn, March 23rd, 2020