KARACHI: Meezan Bank Limited, in collaboration with the Sindh government and DHA Karachi, has launched second COVID-19 drive-through vaccination centre.
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Meezan Bank launches COVID vaccination center
KARACHI: Meezan Bank Limited, Pakistan’s leading Islamic bank, on Saturday launched Pakistan’s largest drive-through COVID vaccination center.
The bank launched the vaccination center in collaboration with the Sindh government in Karachi.
The Facility is situated at central location of Karachi in Gulberg Town at Afghan Ground, Block 19, F.B. Area, opposite Afroze Textile and adjacent Happy Palace School.
The Vaccination Centre was inaugurated today by Barrister Murtaza Wahab – Spokesperson Government of Sindh & Administrator Karachi which was personally overseen by the Bank’s Founding President & CEO – Irfan Siddiqui.
Also present at the occasion was Taha Saleem – Deputy Commissioner, Central Karachi and the Bank’s Senior Management including Muhammad Raza – Group Head, Customer Support and Riaz Ahmed – Head Administration, among others.
With a total of twenty-four booths operating from 4:00pm to 12:00am, the facility will operate seven days a week, providing thousands of adults a safer way of getting vaccinated while observing social distancing rules.
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Turkey allows quarantine at dormitories for Pak students
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s students arriving in Turkey will now undergo the mandatory quarantine period at designated dormitories rather than private hotels, as announced by the Turkish government.
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Ten-day quarantine must for Pakistanis arriving Turkey
ANKARA: The 10-day quarantine period is remained applicable for Pakistani passengers arriving in Turkey. Pakistani nationals intending to travel to Turkey are advised that the quarantine rules pertaining to passengers arriving in Turkey from Pakistan, announced by the Turkish Government on 28 June 2021 that came into effect on 1 July 2021 are still applicable.
As per these rules, passengers arriving from Pakistan will be subject to mandatory 10-day quarantine.
The quarantine will be either at the Turkish Government provided facility or at the designated hotels.
The decision whether passengers will be sent to the Turkish Government provided facilities or self-paid hotel quarantine is entirely at the discretion of the Turkish authorities.
Self-paid hotel rates are stated to be approximately Euros 200 per night per person.
Those in quarantine can take a PCR test after 7 days and if it is negative, they can leave the quarantine facility. However, according to our information, the hotels are charging for the full 10 days.
In view of the above, Pakistani nationals are advised to fully familiarize themselves with the rules governing their travel to Turkey and make an informed choice about visiting Turkey under the present circumstances.
They should also be prepared to pay for their quarantine at government-designated hotels at rates determined by the Turkish authorities and be prepared to deal with any inconvenience they may encounter as a result of their informed decision.
The Pakistan Missions in Turkey are available to assist our nationals to the best of our abilities.
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ABAD seeks amnesty scheme extension for six months
KARACHI: Association of Builders and Developers (ABAD) has urged the government to extend the amnesty scheme for six months to document another Rs1 trillion.
Fayyaz Ilyas, Chairman, ABAD, in a statement said that the investment in Construction Industry will double to Rs2 trillion if special construction package is extended at least for six months.
Quoting the statement of Information Minister for State Farrukh Habib that an amount Rs1 trillion had been invested in construction industry after announcement of Amnesty Scheme, chairman ABAD said that a number of projects could not be registered under the scheme announced by the Prime Minister due to hurdles in approval, especially in Sindh.
“If these projects could get chance to register under this scheme, the investment will double from Rs1 trillion to Rs2 trillion,” he said.
Fayyaz Ilyas said that Prime Minister Imran Khan had extended date of Amnesty Scheme upto June 30, 2021. However, due to fourth wave of Covid-19 and hurdles in approval of projects, date of Amnesty scheme may be extended up to December 31, 2021 to fetch more investment in construction and real estate business.
He said that despite second and third wave of Corona construction activities, especially production of steel, cement and other construction materials is on the rise due to Amnesty Scheme.
Many of allied industries are planning expansion to meet rising demands and some of them have imported billions of rupees machineries to expand their industries, which shows that if the amnesty scheme is extended, the economy of Pakistan will become a vibrant and the dream of making Pakistan Asian Tiger could be realized, he hoped.
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Sindh designates COVID vaccination centers in Karachi
KARACHI: The Sindh Government on Sunday designated centers for COVID vaccination in Karachi in order to facilitate general public.
Following are the hospitals for corona vaccinations:
01. District Karachi East: DOW OJHA CAMPUS
02. District Karachi South: I. Khaliq Dino Hall; II. JPMC; III. Lyari General Hospital
03. District Karachi Central: I. Children Hospital; II. Sindh Government (SG) Hospital New Karachi; III. SG Hospital Liaquatabad
04. District Karachi West: Sindh Government Qatar Hospital
05. District Karachi Malir: SG Hospital Murad Memon Goth
06. District Karachi Korangi: SG Hospital Korangi-05; SG Hospital, Saudabad, Karachi.
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Around 65,000 industry workers vaccinated: KATI
KARACHI: Around 65,000 industry workers have been vaccinated with the help of Sindh government, said Saleem-uz-Zaman, President, Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (KATI).
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Weekly Review: lockdown may impact trading sentiments
KARACHI: The lockdown imposed by Sindh government may impact positive sentiments in the stock market. Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that Karachi is set to observe a more stringent lockdown in place next week to contain the highly contagious delta variant of the novel coronavirus.
It appears the market may remain upwards sticky in the short term.
Albeit, with the result season commencing, and cyclicals expected to post a robust jump in earnings on a YoY basis (given a nation-wise lockdown was enforced in 2Q last year), certain select stocks may come under limelight.
The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) is currently trading at a PER of 6.7x (2021) compared to Asia Pac regional average of 15.8x and offering a DY of 6.7 per cent versus 2.4 per cent offered by the region.
The KSE-100 index remained under pressure for most part of the week, closing in red on 4 out of 5 sessions.
Key sentiment dampener was the sharp incline in domestic COVID ratio with businesses asked to operate at 50 per cent workforce.
Albeit, with no relief on the infection front, the Sindh government announced a complete lockdown in Karachi for the following week, causing the equity bourse to book further losses today.
Although investors heaved a sigh of relief during mid-week with the Central Bank holding its benchmark policy rate at 7 per cent, which translated to buying in cement and steel scrips.
That said, the market ended at 47,055.29 points (down by 1.54 per cent / -738 points WoW).
Contribution to the downside was led by i) Cements (212 points), ii) Commercial Banks (178 points), iii) Oil and Gas Exploration Companies (58 points), iv) Pharmaceuticals (53 points), and v) Oil and Gas Marketing Companies (51 points). Scrip-wise major losers were LUCK (118 points), TRG (62 points), MCB (60 points), PSO (45 points), and HBL (44 points). Whereas, scrip-wise major gainers were SYS (67 points), FCEPL (43 points), HUBC (38 points), ANL (34 points) and MTL (21 points).
Foreigners offloaded stocks worth of USD 5.4 million compared to a net sell of USD 21.02 million last week. Major selling was witnessed in Commercial Banks (USD 2.94 million) and All other Sectors (USD 2.56 million). On the local front, buying was reported by Banks (USD 6.30 million) followed by Mutual Funds (USD 2.43 million).
That said, average daily volumes and traded value for the outgoing week were up by 28 per cent and 14 per cent to 405 million shares and USD 81 million, respectively.
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FPCCI urges reconsidering COVID lockdown decision
KARACHI: The apex trade body of the country on Friday urged the Sindh government to review its lockdown decision.
The Sindh government announced a strict lockdown in the province to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Mian Nasser Hyatt Maggo, President of Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) appealed the Sindh government to reconsider lockdown decision.
The apex trade body said the decision would result in major losses to the industry.
He added that all industries should be allowed to operate seven days a week and continue their production – unabatedly.
Mian Nasser Hyatt Maggo also stressed that the restaurants should be allowed to continue 24 hours takeaway and delivery services.
He also suggested that in order to facilitate common man, all grocery stores in the province should be allowed to operate seven days a week till 8 pm.
Mian Nasser Hyatt Maggo maintained that Pakistan’s economic hub Karachi should not be completely locked down in the larger national interest.
He recommended that the only solution out of the current situation – without causing any harm to businesses and employment opportunities –is to allow business and economic activities under strict compliance of SOPs and mandatory vaccination of the workforce.
Mian Nasser Hyatt Maggo said that if industries and businesses remain under restrictions, we will not be able to pay salaries. He added that FPCCI is ever-ready to fully support the Government of Sindh in order to create a thriving economic environment in the province.
FPCCI hopes that its concerted appeal to the Government of Sindh will result in reconsideration of the strict decisions taken and will result in a more compliant environment in the province vis-à-vis COVID control –and, yet protect the economic and employment opportunities through taking all stakeholders onboard.
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KCCI opposes lockdown, suggests forceful vaccination, strict implementation of SOPs
KARACHI, January 30, 2024 — Chairman of the Businessmen Group (BMG) and Former President of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI), Zubair Motiwala, expressed strong opposition to the implementation of lockdown as a strategy to combat the ongoing pandemic. Instead, he emphasized the need for a robust vaccination campaign and strict adherence to Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to curb the spread of COVID-19.
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