The Sindh government has extended the closure of all educational institutions following the confirmation of a second coronavirus case in Karachi, the country’s largest city.
Pakistan has confirmed four cases of coronavirus, three of them involving people who had travelled to neighbouring Iran, one of the countries hardest hit by the outbreak that began in China in December.
While two of the confirmed cased were in the southern port city of Karachi, the other two were in the capital Islamabad.
Schools in Sindh have been closed since Thursday, after the first case in Karachi was confirmed.
“The Sindh government has decided to keep the schools closed till March 13, so the isolation period of the suspect cases could be completed,” Saeed Ghani, provincial education minister told Reuters yesterday. “We don’t want to take any risk.”
Schools in Islamabad have remained open, but the thinly-populated western province of Baluchistan, which borders Iran, closed its schools last week.
Pakistan suspended all flights with Iran and closed the land border last week.
Health minister Zafar Mirza, the special adviser to the prime minister on health, has said that government is gradually allowing pilgrims to return from Iran, after holding them in quarantine at the border for 14 days.
Around 700 pilgrims arrived in Karachi from Iran over the weekend, the Sindh chief minister’s office said in a statement.
In a new development, the Sindh government has suspended the registrations of schools in Karachi that had remained open despite the closure order issued by the authorities.
According to a press release, education department officials raided schools opened in multiple locations in city on the orders of Private Institutions director-general Dr Mansoob Hassan.
Teams raided the schools located in Karachi’s Landhi, Lyari, Korangi, Gulshan-e-Hadeed, and other areas of the city.
The officials have also requested the secondary education board chairman to initiate action against the institutions.
Hassan has also summoned the school heads who had opened their schools.
On Sunday the Sindh government announced that educational institutions in the province will remain closed until March 13.
The Sindh chief minister’s spokesperson confirmed that the decision had been taken during a meeting presided by the chief minister.
Sindh Chief Minister Murad Shah had taken the decision so that the isolation period of probable patients could be completed, adding that that an estimated 738 pilgrims have so far returned from Iran in Sindh during the past one-and-a-half months.
A previous notification from the Sindh government announced the closure of educational institutions from February 27 to March 2.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has expressed confidence in the way the Pakistan government is treating coronavirus patients as per standardised clinical protocols.
The international health agency also announced that it is stepping up the provision of immediate support to the government so that preparedness and response measures are in place to handle the situation as it develops.
“I am impressed by the swift and diligent way the government has handled the crisis so far, and the WHO is committed to support them every step of the way,” said the WHO representative in Pakistan, Dr Palitha Mahipala.
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