MIANWALI: A container carrying 40 passengers from Karachi was intercepted by police at Hanoli Mor on the Mianwali-Multan Road, 30km from here on Friday morning.

The passengers were shifted to Harnoli Police Station for screening to make sure that none of them carried coronavirus. A team of doctors from Mianwali rushed to Harnoli Police Station for screening of all the 40 suspects who were allowed to go home after doctors declared them healthy.

The district administration has banned the entry of public transport to the district coming from Sindh province as a precautionary measure against coronavirus.

As per police sources, District Police Officer Hassan Asad Alvi got information about the container carrying 40 people from Karachi to Mianwali. The people, belonging to Mianwali, who used to work in Karachi, were coming back to their homes in violation of the lockdown. The DPO alerted Harnoli Police Station, situated at the entry point of this district on Mianwali-Multan Road. A team, headed by Station House Officer Habibur Rehman Khan intercepted the container at Harnoli at 4am and took the suspects to the police station. The police informed the health department and a team of doctors reached there for screening of all the suspects.

SHO Khan told this scribe screening of almost all the suspects had been completed and doctors had declared them fit. He said they were allowed to go home. He said all of suspects were doing various jobs in Karachi and they were returning to their homes for their safety.

Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2020