KARACHI – The Coronavirus Task Force of the Sindh government has decided to keep ongoing restrictions to contain surge in coronavirus cases in the province. The task force, chaired by Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, decided to hold another meeting on Saturday to reassess the pandemic situation in the province. The chief minister stated that 20,421 samples were tested for the contagion yesterday, 9000 among them were from Karachi. He said that overall 2,076 new cases were diagnosed, indicating a detection rate of 10.2 per cent. “The rate of positive cases in Karachi remained 16.82 percent,” he said. On Eid ul Fitr, total 1232 coronavirus cases were diagnosed, while after the Eid, total 2076 cases detected in a day,” he told the meeting. The chief minister said that these numbers showing a rising trend of Covid-19 cases in Sindh. “It seems difficult to provide relief in restrictions in the province amid rising number of the cases,” he said. The officials said that the task force will review the situation in Saturday meeting. “It will soften restrictions if the cases decline but if the cases surge it will further tighten the restrictions,” the task force decided in the meeting. A representative of the World Health Organization (WHO) will also give recommendations to tackle the situation in the Saturday session. In light of the NCOC guidelines, business hours are from 6am to 8pm, while business will be completely closed on Saturdays and Sundays, but essential services are exempt from these hours. The provincial government has also issued coronavirus standard operating procedures to accommodate 50% less passengers than the capacity in all types of public transport.