KARACHI: The Sindh government on Friday extended the “smart lockdown” in parts of South and West districts of Karachi for another 15 days to contain the spread of coronavirus.

A statement issued by the office of the Karachi commissioner said that several neighbourhoods in West and South districts would remain under the smart lockdown till July 16 in line with the advice of the provincial health department.

The areas in West district included Gadap’s UC-5 Songal (Gulshan-i-Maymar Blocks X, Y and Z), Keamari’s UC-3 (Docks and Majeed Colony), Baldia UC-5 Saeedabad (Block 5G, 5J and A3), SITE UC-4 Metroville (Blocks 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5), Orangi Town’s UC-11 Data Nagar (Area A/B), Orangi Town’s UC-12 Mujahid Colony (Millatabad and Ghulamabad Aligarh Colony).

In South district, the lockdown was extended in Civil Lines (Khayaban-i-Rahat, Clifton Block 4, 5 and Bath Island localities), Arambagh (Khori Garden and Machi Miyani Market in Kharadar), Garden (Jillani Masjid Road, Hari Masjid Road, Shoe Market and Doli Khata), Lyari (Madni Road Moosa Lane), Saddar (Bizerta Line).

During the smart lockdown, movement would remain restricted. All sorts of public transport including ride-hailing services will also remain suspended. Only grocery stores and pharmacies will be allowed to remain open and only one person per household can leave to buy food or medicine,” said the notification issued by the respective deputy commissioner office.

22 more die of Covid-19

As many as 1,496 new cases emerged when 10,027 samples were tested raising the tally to 90,721 while 22 more patients lost their lives overnight lifting the death toll to 1,437.

Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah disclosed this in a statement issued here from CM House on Friday.

According to the CM, 10,027 samples were tested, which detected 1,496 cases constituting 15 per cent result.

He said that the government had tested 481,050 samples which detected 90,721 cases all over Sindh, of them 50,908 recovered, including 982 overnight.

“The recovery rate of coronavirus patients in Sindh stands at 56pc,” Mr Shah said. The statement added that 22 more patients of Covid-19 died lifting the death toll to 1,459 that constituted 1.6pc death rate.

The chief minister said that at present 38,354 patients were under treatment, of them 36,452 in home isolation, 298 at isolation centres and 1,604 at different hospitals.

He added that out of 1,604 hospitalised patients, 653 were in critical condition, 104 were on ventilators while 847 were stated to be stable.

The CM said that out of 1,496 new cases of coronavirus, Karachi had 750 cases, including East 217, South 182, Central 129, Malir 82, Korangi 79 and West 61.

He added that Sukkur had 44 new cases, Sanghar 44, Badin 41, Ghotki 40, Khairpur 29, Thatta 26, Qambar 22, Shaheed Benazirabad 17, Jamshoro and Shikarpur 11 each, Kashmore seven, Larkana six, Dadu and Naushahro Feroze five each, Jacobabad four, Umerkot three, Tando Allahyar two, Tando Mohammad Khan and Mirpurkhas have one each.

Published in Dawn, July 4th, 2020