Ministry pushing to speed up supply of medicinal and perishable items

Ministry of Maritime Affairs stated on Thursday that they were speeding up the supply of medical and perishable items throughout the country.

The ministry said that transport of petroleum products and food items were also being sped up. It added that the port authorities have been advised to abolish charges or lower them.

The ministry also announced that it has set up hotlines for the recent import and export of the country. It added that the Sindh government has made the port operation an essential service.

The Sindh Government on Monday took drastic measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus by placing a blanket ban on "unnecessary movement" throughout the province.

Also read: NCC meets today to discuss consequences of lockdown, coronavirus situation

All offices, malls, restaurants, and public spaces have been shut down. Moreover, restaurants have been told to cease all delivery and take-away operations as well.

The move has been labeled by Prime Minister Imran Khan as an extreme step and on Wednesday he feared that such moves would "impact the economy drastically".

Addressing a parliamentary leaders’ conference in Islamabad, PM Imran had called for the lifting of the ban on transport, saying it would badly affect the supply of essential items in the country.

“Gilgit-Baltistan is facing fuel shortage and yesterday, supply from the port was stopped due to the lockdown in Karachi and we had to take necessary steps in this regard,” the prime minister had said.

He had added there was no precedence in the world of such a lockdown.

"The federal government can not do this alone; we have to have a national response to fight the epidemic," the premier had said.