The Sindh government has decided to provide free coronavirus vaccines to private hospitals across the province as the COVID-19 tally hit 288,680 on Thursday.

A meeting of the Task Force with Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah in the chair took place on Thursday. The meeting reviewed the coronavirus situation in the province and noted that the coronavirus infection rate in Karachi increased from 5% to 14.53%.

The CM said that people are violating coronavirus guidelines in the east and south districts of the city due to which the cases in Karachi have increased. The meeting then decided to impose more restrictions to curb the spread of the virus.

According to the new restrictions, restaurants will only operate delivery service after Maghrib while all grocery shops will close by 6pm from Friday till Sunday. Seaview, Hawkesbay will also be closed during the Eid holidays.

Meanwhile, the provincial government also decided to provide coronavirus vaccines to private hospitals from today and these vaccines will be administered to the people for free.

Hotel quarantine facilities have been restored as well. Earlier, Sindh had launched free COVID-19 home vaccination for people who are homebound. People will first have to register by sending their CNIC number to 1166.

The mobile helplines for at-home vaccination are 1025 and 9123. Those calling from a landline phone can dial 021-111-119-123.