KARACHI: A total of 293 people were arrested on Thursday on the fourth day of the lockdown imposed across Sindh to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

According to police sources, a total of 186 people were apprehended in Karachi only, including 57 in South zone, 48 in East zone and 81 in West zone over violation of Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code and for hoarding of masks, sanitisers, gloves, etc.

The city police registered 64 FIRs against the held persons.

The police said 51 persons were detained in Hyderabad range, 10 in Mirpurkhas range, 10 in Shaheed Benazirabad range and 36 in Sukkur range, bringing total number to 293 across the province. The police said that no one was arrested in Larkana range.

Meanwhile, Karachi police spokesperson in a statement said that since the implementation of the lockdown by the provincial government to prevent spread of Covid-19 since March 23 to March 26, a total of 937 people had been arrested in the metropolis only.

Meanwhile, the city authorities had engaged religious scholars to encourage people to observe social distancing at mosques to halt the spread of the virus.

Published in Dawn, March 27th, 2020