Daily Times

In the latest easing of coronavirus-related restrictions, the Sindh government on Friday extended the closing time for businesses to 10 pm and allowed indoor dining for fully vaccinated people.

According to a notification shared by the information cell of the Sindh government:

• Businesses are allowed to remain open till 10 pm.
• Bakeries and dairy shops are allowed to remain open till 12am.
• Hotels, restaurants, and cafes are allowed to resume both indoor and outdoor dining till 12am while maintaining a distance of three feet between customers.
• Indoor dining is allowed at 50 percent capacity only for vaccinated people and all hotels, restaurants, and cafes will have to check the vaccination certificates for these customers.
• Drive-thru, takeaway, and delivery are open 24/7.
• Outdoor marriages and functions are allowed with up to 400 people while maintaining a distance of three feet.
• Indoor weddings are allowed with up to 200 vaccinated people and the management will have to check the vaccination certificates.
• Shrines are allowed to open subject to strict standard operating procedures.
• Cinemas and theatres are allowed to remain open till 1am only for vaccinated people.
• Indoor gyms are allowed to open only for vaccinated people.
• Amusement parks, swimming pools and arcades are allowed to open with 50pc occupancy.
• Public transport is allowed to operate with 70pc occupancy.
• All offices, public and private, are allowed to function at 100pc occupancy.
• Sunday will be observed as a ‘safe day’ in Karachi, other divisions will decide their own safe days.
• All types of indoor and outdoor gatherings, including cultural, musical and religious events are prohibited.

The provincial government also issued a list of general guidelines, directing all businesses and organisations to ensure their staff was vaccinated at the earliest. The government will start random checking of the vaccination status of staff soon, the notification stated.

Vaccination would become one of the conditions for future decisions on easing or tightening restrictions, it added.

Last week, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) had allowed the resumption of indoor dining for vaccinated individuals, subject to 50pc occupancy, along with a number of other decisions to be implemented from July 1 to 31.

It also decided to gradually normalise inbound international air travel, increasing direct flights to 40pc from the United Kingdom (UK), Europe, Canada, China, and Malaysia.

Meanwhile, the number of coronavirus cases in Sindh is slowly rising with more than 500 infections being reported for the last four days.

In the last 24 hours, Sindh confirmed 881 new cases and 19 coronavirus-related fatalities, taking the total number of infections to 339,268 and the death toll to 5,497.