COVID-19 outbreak: Unscreened travellers shunned by family, friends in Sindh.

KARACHI -- Though the government claims otherwise, unscreened passengers returning from Iran, Iraq and Syria appear to be freely moving around their areas of residence - albeit shunned by those around them, due to fears of coronavirus transmission.

Sources told The Express Tribune that several travellers who had visited Iran and Iraq landed safely at the Karachi airport four days ago, going to their homes in Larkana without being screened for the infectious disease.

'My brother-in-law N* visited Iran and Iraq,' Rizwan Shaikh, a resident of Rato Dero, told The Express Tribune. 'I have told my wife to close the doors of our house and not to let her brother and his family enter.'

Shaikh said that even though N was still healthy and showed no symptoms of flu or fever, everyone in the area was afraid of him. 'No one from the government has quarantined him or conducted other tests,' he pointed out.

According to N's family, the young man is a cleric in Baghdad and recently visited Iran with another friend. 'Since people are afraid of his presence, he has confined himself to his house on his own,' added Shaikh.

Meanwhile, Ghafoor Jat, from Sanghar, told The Express Tribune that two men in his village had returned from Iran last week. 'No one has yet approached them for testing. They were working in the fields without any symptoms, but now, after media reports, they have switched off their phones and moved from the village to Sanghar city,' he disclosed.

The Centre's domain

As the novel coronavirus spreads across the globe, with 20 patients in Pakistan now as well, it has created fears about an outbreak in the country. Though there has been much talk about screening travellers as they return to the country, reports of gaps in the system have now led to the Sindh government accusing the Centre of shirking its responsibilities.

On Wednesday, the Sindh government asked the Centre to establish a quarantine facility near Karachi's Jinnah International Airport, pointing out that at least 14 cases of COVID-19 identified in the metropolis had reached the city via the airport.

'None of the cases in Sindh are locally transmitted. They all came through the airport,' said Sindh government spokesperson Murtaza Wahab. 'Constitutionally, keeping a check at the airports and seaports is the domain of the federal government. We [the Sindh government] cannot deploy our staff there.'

Speaking to The Express Tribune, he explained that Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali...