Sindh Minister for Education Saeed Ghani said on Wednesday that educational institutions would be reopened from Monday (March 16). He said this while talking to media persons after attending a meeting of the task force on coronovirus at the CM House here. He, however, said that another meeting of the taskforce would also be held on Thursday, and the decision to reopen the educational institutions could be reviewed in case the situation changed.
"As of this moment, we have decided to open all public and private sector educational institutions from March 16, and matric exams will be held as per schedule," Saeed Ghani said.
Earlier, during the meeting of the task force on coronovirus at the CM House, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, who presided over the meeting, said, "The issue of opening educational institutions or keeping them closed would be discussed further tomorrow (Thursday)."
The chief minister discussed the question of whether to open the educational institutions or keep them closed for the time being with the participants of the meeting to solicit their opinions on the matter.
Half of the participants supported opening of the schools. It was pointed out that examinations were due, and for that matter educational institutions had to be allowed to start functioning.
The participants said that all the cases of coronavirus were brought into the province from overseas, and schools should be opened. The chief minister directed education and health departments to prepare an advisory for educational institutions and the parents so that the children of the people having travel history should stay away from the institutions for certain period of quarantine or completion of medical investigations.
The chief minister said that there were some weaknesses of screening of passengers/pilgrims at the Jinnah International Airport as well as in Taftan, and as a result of the lapse a child who had been cleared from the quarantine in Taftan had later been tested as positive in Quetta.
"This shows that the screening system is weak at Taftan and the child declared as coronavirus patient at Quetta might have infected others in the quarantine area."
He urged provincial health department to make best arrangements for screening of the passengers at the Jinnah International Airport and request the Balochistan government to further strengthen its screening of the pilgrims at Taftan.
There are 13 coronavirus cases in Sindh, of them eight have a travel history of Syria, three of Dubai and three of Iran. The health department had 26 samples of coronavirus tested on Wednesday, and all of them were declared as negative.
The chief minister was told that a person had been found unconscious near Jinnah Hospital, and he had a passport in his pocket which showed that he had returned from Iran by air on Wednesday.
The patient had been hospitalized and his sample sent for a lab test. At this, the chief minister again pointed out that this showed that screening arrangement at the airport needed to be made more effective. However, he added that the passenger might have had some other issue and not coronavirus. His test results were being awaited.
The chief secretary told the chief minister that he has deputed 50 health workers at the airport. They would be performing duties in three shifts. Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho said that she along with her team visited the airport and made necessary arrangements for developing quarantine facility outside the Immigration in 25 cubicles.
The Civil Aviation Authority has agreed to develop the [quarantine] facility. Sindh health department and Indus Hospital would provide technical support and human resource. The chief minister was told that 142 suspects were still in quarantine at their home, of them 34 would complete their mandatory isolation on Thursday and 66 on Friday.
The chief minister was also told that the public hospitals have shared the data of 1874 patients of pneumonia and flu while the private hospital has furnished a list of 702 patients. The health department said they were taking necessary action on the details provided by the public and private hospitals.
It was also disclosed that 27 samples of severe pneumonia cases have been sent for lab test. The chief minister decided that the 850 pilgrims arriving from Taftan at Sukkur would be tested. "I would arrange an aircraft to transport the samples of all the in-coming pilgrims en bloc from Sukkur and bring them to Karachi for test," he said.
The chief minister also urged the media to run public service messages asking those people who have symptoms of pneumonia, influenza and chest congestion to not to go to the stadium to watch the PSL match. The police dept told the chief minister that 2500 policemen would perform their duty during the PSL matches.
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