Sindh Information Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah has thanked people all over the province, especially people of Karachi, for strictly following government’s lockdown orders, staying indoors and offering prayers at their homes.

In a statement issued here on Friday, Nasir Hussain Shah said the Sindh government needed the same kind of cooperation from its people to get rid of the pandemic like coronavirus. "The more people cooperate with the government during the lockdown, the sooner we will get rid of this pandemic," he said.

The provincial minister said that banning prayer gatherings, whether Friday prayers or other prayers, was a tough decision for the Sindh government, but the government had no other option. He thanked religious figures from all sects, saying the way they cooperated with the government and endorsed the ban on congregational prayers in mosques was exemplary. This would not have been possible without religious figures’ cooperation, he said.

Nasir Shah said that before taking such a tough decision representatives of all sects were taken into confidence and calls for prayers were given in all mosques according to their suggestions. He said the only way to prevent spread of coronavirus was to adopt all necessary precautionary measures. So far, he said, no vaccine or any other treatment was available to cure a person affected by coronavirus.

The government was taking every possible step to stop the spread of the virus in Sindh, he said, adding that the government was increasing its testing capacity to get a clear picture of the number of infected people in the province. He said the Sindh government was trying its best to adopt all measures that could help stop the spread of the virus locally. According to health experts, he said, social distancing was the best preventive measure. He said this was the only reason the government had extended the duration of the lockdown. He said the government was very well aware of sufferings of people because of the lockdown, especially sufferings of the daily wage earners.

Syed Nasir Hussain Shah said the government was working day and night to mitigate sufferings of not only daily wage earners, but also of all those families who had been affected by the lockdown. He expressed the hope that Sindh government's measures would rid the country of coronavirus soon and mosques, educational institutions, markets, parks, and playgrounds would start pulling crowds once again. But for now, he said, be careful, stay at home and observe social distancing to save your loved ones and everyone around “until we get rid of the virus completely”.