Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah says his government was helpless in imposing restrictions to control the spread of Covid-19 after orders were issued by the Supreme Court to reopen businesses and the federal government downplayed the threat.

"We appeared in SC and told them that we don't want to reopen [the economy]. Then we were told to follow the federal government's lead on opening. After a strict order like that, what could we have done?" Shah said while answering a reporter's question.

He said following the SC order and after the "mindset" of the federal government became clear, "people stopped caring about corona and said stuff like 'this corona is nothing'".