After heeding the Sindh health department’s advisory on the recent rise in Covid cases, Chief Minister Sindh Murad Ali Shah has further deferred the reopening of schools by one week to now open on August 30.
Addressing a press conference in Karachi to address the woes of farmers and crop growers amid the water crisis, he said the deferment of reopening comes after the health department’s warnings of a potential spike in Covid cases.
“At this time we will not open schools for one more week. We want that in this one week the school teachers and parents of students get vaccinated.”
He stressed that school staff would have to get 100 per cent vaccinated and parents would also have to show their vaccination certificates. “Following this regime, we will open schools next week,” he said.
Get vaccinated in the week-long period, CM Sindh advised the teachers and parents.
During the presser, asked whether he had raised the issue of Covid vaccine booster shots for fully vaccinated people with the federal government, CM Shah said he had met the World Health Organisation’s country head and the primary concern at the moment was to administer first or second doses to the population.
“If doctors or health practitioners say that now it is necessary to administer boosters otherwise their protection will finish, then the government will have to decide,” he added.
He said in the last Khareef season the province got 35 percent less water than accorded by the document. This season Sindh has faced a 19 percent shortage while Khareef is more than halfway past.
“I told you there is a crisis in the agriculture sector and irrigation but if Irsa continues to make one-sided decisions then this problem will reach drinking water for cities as well.”
The chief minister warned that a “severe water crisis” could be faced in the future if the authority did not properly compensate the province and Keenjhar Lake’s water level was not increased.
Responding to a question, CM Shah said he did not oppose the use of telemetry systems to measure water flow but “before that, accept our rights”.
