No room for relaxing Covid-19 restrictions in Sindh, says Murad.

KARACHI -- Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said on Sunday that there was no room for relaxing Covid-19 restrictions in the province, urging citizens to strictly follow precautionary measures for curbing the spread of the virus.

Addressing a press conference in Karachi, the chief minister compared coronavirus figures from last year and this year immediately after Eidul Fitr.

"There were 831 coronavirus cases reported on the first day of Shawwal. On Friday, more than 2,000 cases were reported," he said, adding that this was due to citizens flouting standard operating procedures (SOPs) during the Eid holidays.

He said that the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) had decided to lift restrictions from Monday (tomorrow). "However, experts part of the Provincial Coronavirus Task Force strictly advised us that this is the time for caution.

"Considering the current situation, there is no room for relaxation. We do not want [a repeat] of the situation from last June and July," he said, adding that beds in some hospitals were also filling up.

You can't find beds at Aga Khan University Hospital and Indus Hospital. The Infectious Diseases Hospital is also full. We had closed down the Expo Centre facility, but we had to reopen it and right now it is at 50 per cent capacity. These [figures] are concerning and we can't turn a blind eye and move forward.

Therefore, the task force decided to implement stricter restrictions, the chief minister said. He said that an ease in restrictions depended on the people and how well the public followed precautionary measures.

Given the current situation, we can't even predict whether things will get better in two weeks or four weeks. However, what we can say is that if people follow SOPs, the situation will improve. This is more so in people's hands.

Elaborating on the decisions taken during the meeting of the provincial task force, he said that restrictions will remain in place for the next two weeks, adding that additional curbs were also being...