Sindh Information Minister Nasir Hussain Shah has said that the time to impose a lockdown is now gone and now all citizens can do to curb the spread is take preventive measures.

While addressing a press conference, Shah said that a complete lockdown should have been implemented earlier, when the disease had started to spread. If the virus had been taken seriously when cases started to emerge in the country, the spread could have been curbed, Shah said.

"Why didn't people take it seriously? Because they were being told by one side that this virus is not to be feared.

"When the [Sindh] chief minister came on TV to share the situation of the province, he was accused of promoting panic."