KARACHI: Two commercial banks and a school were sealed in Karachi over COVID-related standard operating procedures (SOPs) violation on Friday.
According to sources, assistant commissioner city South visited various private offices, banks and a school to review implementation on the COVID SOPs. During the visit, two commercial banks at II Chundrigar Road and a school in Clifton were sealed.
Sources said the action was taken over violation of 50 percent work from home policy enforced by the Sindh government.
Earlier, several officials of the Islamabad administration had visited various areas in the city on Friday along with army personnel to enforce the implementation of coronavirus protocols.
Assistant Commissioner Rana Musa Tahir visited different commercial areas with an army and police contingent and took action against violators.
The district administration said 1,997 inspections were carried out on Friday, while 28 shops and one restaurant were sealed for violating coronavirus SOPs.
Nine people were arrested for hoarding and violation of SOPs and fines worth Rs226,000 were imposed. The army and district administration officials had also inspected 85 mosques, said the statement.
Amid the surging cases, the government is mulling over imposing a lockdown in 20 cities from 2/3 May ahead of the Eid-ul-Fitr holidays. A list mentioned 20 cities across Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, where the coronavirus situation has worsened and the restrictions imposed by the authorities have failed to control the virus spread.
The cities where the lockdown might be imposed include Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Multan, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Bahawalpur, Hyderabad, Peshawar, Dir Lower, Mardan, Nowshera, Malakand, Charsadda, Swat, Swabi, Muzaffarabad, Sudhnuti, Poonch, and Bagh. The NCOC has directed the local administration to forward their input for necessary action.
