Smart lockdown imposed in Karachi’ Gulshan-e-Iqbal to combat Omicron variant

KARACHI – The local government administration imposed a 15-day micro-smart lockdown in Karachi's District East on Saturday after 12 cases of coronavirus Omicron variant were detected in the area.

A notification issued by the deputy commissioner’s office, the lockdown was imposed in Gulshan-e-Iqbal's Block 7 area and other hotspot areas to slow the spread of the virus.

"In exercise of powers conferred under Section 3 of the Sindh Epidemic Diseases Act 2014 (as amended in 2020), I, Taha Saleem, Deputy Commissioner District Karachi East hereby impose smart lockdown and micro-smart lockdown, which shall be enforced in the streets and houses of specified area respectively as given below, for a definite period of two weeks only," the notification read.

As per the lockdown restrictions, there will be a ban on all sorts of public gatherings in the area.

"In order to reduce the transmission and spread of Covid-19, besides mandatory mask-wearing and social distancing interventions, it is also fundamental to ensure isolation, contact tracing and testing being the three pillars of TTT (TTQ) strategy of the government for the containment of Covid-19," read the notification.

The restrictions will remain in place till Jan 14 to avoid a health crisis in the city.

Last week, the National Institute of Health confirmed 75 cases of the Omicron strain, which was first detected in South Africa.

"Since [the] WHO [World Health Organisation] designated Omicron as a Variant of Concern on November 26, 2021, the Ministry of NHSRC [National Health Systems Resource Centre], NCOC, NIH [National Institute of Health] and the provincial health departments have remained vigilant to detect the variant in Pakistan," read an official statement.

"The first case of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 was reported on December 13 in Karachi. As of December 27, 2021, a total of 75 Omicron cases have been confirmed – 33 in Karachi, 17 in Islamabad and 13 in Lahore," it had added.