Complete ban on pillion riding in Sindh including Karachi

KARACHI: Following a sudden spike in coronavirus cases in the province, the Sindh home department has imposed a blanket ban on pillion riding citing misuse of permission given to female members of the family.

Under the new directives, exemptions for the law enforcement personnel, women, children and elderly citizens have been withdrawn.

The authorities took the step after several reports in the media suggested that police personnel were also violating the social distancing guidelines.

“In view of implementation issues in the filed and misuse of permission for pillion riding allowing female members of the family, a strict ban/restriction on pillion riding is imposed without any exception, whatsoever,” a notification issued on Saturday read.

Karachi police chief Ghulam Nabi Memon directed the officers to ensure the strict compliance of the orders.

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Local transmission in Karachi on the rise

Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah on Saturday expressed concern over the rapid increase of coronavirus cases in Karachi's densely populated areas, calling for a need to conduct "extensive testing" and practice isolation.

In a video message, Shah said that the virus was spreading further in areas such as Lyari, Lee Market, Kharadar, Bihar Colony and different localities of various union councils of district East, Malir, Korangi, and West.

“This is something serious and needs to be stopped by conducting extensive tests and ensuring isolation,” the chief minister said.

“We can curb the spread of coronavirus by extending our testing facilities in these areas,” Shah said.

Sharing coronavirus statistics, Shah said that 138 new cases have been detected by conducting 1,666 tests. The number of tests conducted so far comes to 22,938 while the tally of the cases has surged past 2,300 across the province.