Coronavirus: Closure of schools extended till March 13 in Pakistan's Sindh province

The provincial government in Pakistan's Sindh has extended the closure of all schools till March 13 to prevent the spread of novel coronavirus.

The Sindh government had ordered the closure of private and government schools on February 27 and 28 after Pakistan confirmed its first two cases of the virus. One of the cases was detected in Karachi, capital of Sindh.

On Sunday, two more cases were confirmed in Pakistan, including one in Karachi.

Already, the border with Afghanistan at Chaman in Balochistan will remain closed for seven days from March 2, the Ministry of Interior said in a statement.

In addition to the border closure, strict precautionary measures have also been put in place in border areas, including the setting up of an isolation ward at DHQ Hospital Parachinar.

Screening is also underway at the Babe-e-Dosti border crossing in Chaman.

Medical checkpoints have also been set up at Torkham border for those coming into the country from Afgahnistan's Nangarhar province.

Kabul confirmed its first case of the coronavirus on Monday with several others being tested for the diseases.

Afghanistan Minister of Public Health Ferozuddin Feroz told a press conference that one of the three suspected cases had been confirmed in its western Herat province.

Pakistan has already snapped land and rail links with Iran - where the coronavirus outbreak has claimed 43 lives and infected 593 people, the highest outside China.

The novel virus reportedly first originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December last year and has killed 2,870 people and infected 79,824.

The World Health Organisation on Friday raised global virus risk to maximum level after the outbreak spread to sub-Saharan Africa and stock markets around the world plummeted.