Coronavirus: Pakistan’s Imran Khan rules out mass shutdowns, as cases hit 257
- The country has struggled to prevent the spread of the virus, with religious gatherings allowed to continue and limited travel restrictions in place
- Khan says it is not feasible for Pakistan to lock down cities, as it could result in mass unemployment and impoverished people ‘dying from hunger’
The number of confirmed infections in Pakistan shot up thirteen-fold between Friday and Wednesday to reach 257, as officials in its four provinces screened thousands of returning Shia Muslim pilgrims previously held in quarantine camps on the border with Iran. A 90-year-old man suspected of having contracted the virus died in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region bordering Xinjiang on Wednesday. A person suffering from the disease has died after the ventilator being used to treat him broke down. The government of southern Sindh province, which has documented 189 cases so far, on Tuesday ordered a 15-day closure of government offices, restaurants and markets, and suspended intercity bus services. Last week, Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah instructed all schools and colleges in the province to close until May 30, and banned public gatherings
The council also restricted international flights to Pakistan’s three biggest airports, but did not ban flights from any other countries, despite a growing number of infections among expatriates flying in from the Gulf Arab states and the West.
Although religious gatherings in Iran had led to the disease spreading to Pakistan and other countries in the region, the government did not order a ban on prayer congregations, although they have been suspended in a growing number of other virus-afflicted Muslim countries.