KARACHI: After consulting traders, the Sindh government finalised on Sunday the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for businesses to continue operations during the lockdown.
In a meeting at the commissioner’s office, it was decided that each business sector will be allowed to work for a specific number of days in a week.
Cloth markets, tailors, automobile sector, mechanics and auto parts shops will be open for two days. Furniture sellers will also be allowed to work for two days.
It has been decided that all shops, including grocery and others will operate from Monday to Thursday from 8am to 5pm. The Sindh government will also issue SOPs for the businesses which will be implemented immediately. In case of any violation of the SOPs, the relevant markets or shops would be sealed, the government has decided.
However, there would be a lockdown after 5pm, the meeting decided while also mentioning that the Ehtram-e-Ramazan Ordinance, 1981 is to be fully implemented.
The relaxation for the trading activities came despite the fact that the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) on Thursday called for a strict lockdown and warned the next three to four weeks were very important and one should avoid making decisions which might prove to be regrettable in future.
The members of business community will fully cooperate with the committee to formulate SOPs so as to open their businesses, he said.
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has urged the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) to work out Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for clinics and suggest ways and means to launch tele-medicine clinics so that patients of other diseases could be provided medical treatment.
