Sindh’s Health department has banned the entry of the general public to its offices as a preventive measure to deal with the coronavirus, according to an official notification issued on Tuesday.

It said the general public has been barred from entering the Sindh Health Department offices located at the Sindh Secretariat building. Only the department staff can enter the offices, it added.

With the confirmation of nine new cases of Covid-19 in Karachi on Monday, the tally has jumped to 13 infections in Sindh and 16 in Pakistan.

Luckily no person has so far died due to the contagious disease and one of the infected persons has been relieved from hospital after recovery.

An emergency meeting of Sindh health department held on Tuesday also recommended to the provincial chief minister the closure of educational institutions, besides issuing an advisory for banning gatherings at public places.

The meeting was chaired by Health Minister Azra Pechuho and attended by health department officials, district health officers (DHOs) and representatives of major hospitals in the province.

It also decided to immediately set up coronavirus information desks at all public hospitals across Sindh and to issue an advisory for 14-day local quarantine of the suspected cases of novel coronavirus.