Pakistan: Sindh govt engages in war of words with Centre over lockdown in province

Sindh [Pakistan], August 1 : The Sindh government has requested the Pakistan federal government not to politicise the lockdown issue after a war of words erupted between the Centre and the provincial government over coronavirus. During a press conference, Wahab stressed on not bringing the issue in the political arena as the focus must remain on saving people from the deadly epidemic, The News International reported.Defending the government decision, he said that the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) has not said anywhere that the lockdown should not be imposed."It has always been our aim to work in conjunction with the federal government. Unfortunately, when these people appear on TV, their statements are different," said Wahab."I say to those issuing statements left and right: convince people to get vaccinated instead. Please stop creating chaos," he added, reported The News International.Referring to when the Buzdar government imposed a lockdown in Punjab, Wahab said that the Sindh government raised no objections over the decision since it knows the gravity of the matter.Earlier, Federal Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry said that the federal government is "concerned" about Sindh's decisions."We successfully combated the first three coronavirus waves [...] The Sindh government should clamp down on vaccinations. A lockdown is inappropriate," he said, adding that government of Sindh "cannot make decisions unilaterally".Pakistan's Sindh province has gone for a partial lockdown from Saturday till August 8 as the COVID-19 cases are surging in the country.According to the latest statistics shared by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), 4,950 fresh infections surfaced over the last 24 hours after 58,479 COVID-19 tests were conducted across the country yesterday.Sindh recorded 2,772 new infections across the province during the last 24 hours yesterday.According to the statement issued by Sindh chief minister's office, 30 more succumbed to the disease during this period, taking the death toll to 6,001."30 more patients of COVID-19 died overnight lifting the death toll to 6,001 that constituted 1.6 percent death rate and 2,772 new cases emerged when 18,267 tests were conducted that came to 15.1 percent current detection rate,' the statement read.So far 5,008,192 tests have been conducted against which 382,848 cases were diagnosed, of them 86.8 per cent or 332,409 patients have recovered, including 607 overnight.According to the statement, out of 2,772 new cases, 2,200 have been detected from Karachi, reported ARY News.

( With inputs from ANI )

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