Sindh to suspend salaries of officials not vaccinated against coronavirus

The Sindh government has warned that the salaries of provincial government officials would be suspended if they fail to get vaccinated against the coronavirus.

During a meeting, Chief Minister Sindh Murad Ali Shah gave the directive, saying that from July salaries of officials who have not gotten inoculated would be suspended, as the province continued to make efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus. The CM also instructed authorities to set up 300 basic health unit (BHU) vaccination centres, saying that 30,000 jabs should be administered each day.

Giving additional directions for the provincial vaccination campaign, the chief minister also instructed the 300 basic health units across the province to establish vaccination centres and set a cumulative daily target.

Shah directed that mobile vaccination teams must vaccinate 60,000 people daily, while private hospitals must inoculate 10,000 people a day. The CM was informed that so far, 1,55 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine have been administered in Sindh.

Health Secretary Dr Kazim Jatoi informed the CM that on June 2, there were 11.77% positive cases in Karachi. "About 9% were in Karachi South, 8% in Karachi West with seven deaths. Karachi Central accounted for 12% of cases and 15 deaths. There have been 392 deaths in Sindh during the last 30 days,” Jatoi told the chief minister.

Jatoi also informed that four passengers on May 29 were diagnosed with the Indian variant of the coronavirus and isolated.

These decisions came after Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday allowed the Sindh government to extend lockdown restrictions for another week, to curb the spread of the coronavirus in the province.