Pak's Sindh province shuts down schools, colleges on coronavirus

With coronanavirus striking Pakistan, the provincial government of Sindh has closed down all schools and colleges till March 13.

Karachi, March 1 With coronanavirus striking Pakistan, the provincial government of Sindh has closed down all schools and colleges till March 13.

Public and private educational institutes throughout Sindh will remain closed from March 2-13, Sindh Chief Minister's spokesperson announced on Sunday.

As per Pakistan media reports, the spokesperson added that the decision was taken during a meeting taken by Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah following coronavirus cases being confirmed in Pakistan.

The second case of coronavirus was reported in Karachi on Saturday, according to the province's Health Department, which noted that the man had been quarantined and everyone he came in physical contact with had been isolated as well.

An earlier notification from the Government of Sindh had announced the closure of educational institutions from February 27 to March 2.

Travelling from the epicentre of Wuhan, the coronavirus outbreak has now spread to 60 countries across Asia, Europe and the Americas.

The list of countries touched by the virus climbed to 60, with Ireland and Ecuador reporting their first cases Saturday. More than 86,000 people have been infected with the virus worldwide, with deaths topping 2,900.

The UK reported 12 new cases of the coronavirus taking the total in the country to 35. Iran reported another surge in infections and 11 more deaths.

The WHO chief said the window is narrowing to contain the virus as it spread further and the US, Australia and Thailand reported fatalities.

Currently, more cases outside China are being reported in other countries while the cases and fatalities in China have come down. China authorities have revealed that the fatality rate is at 1.4 per cent.

In Iran, infections have almost doubled while cases in Spain have also shown an increase. Another badly affected country, South Korea added 586 cases, taking total to 3,736 with 18 deaths. In contrast, China reported 35 new deaths, the lowest in three days.

( With inputs from IANS )