On September 15, higher education institutions across Pakistan reopened and the governments, both federal and provincial, have been randomly testing teachers, school staff and students for the coronavirus ever since. The federal education ministry has released data on how many tests have been conducted so far. Across the country, 93,928 tests have been taken. Of the total, 27.6% (25,924) of the test results are still pending. A total of 606 positive cases have been reported from the remaining 67,986 tests. The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Tuesday allowed reopening of schools (from class six to eight) across the country from Wednesday (today) after a six-month closure as the Covid-19 situation in the country has improved to some extent. However, the Sindh government — which has already decided to postpone reopening of schools (from class six to eight) till Sept 28 — is not going to open schools on Wednesday in accordance with the NCOC decision. The NCOC took the decision during a meeting held here with Planning Minister Asad Umar in the chair. It was attended by Federal Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood and provincial education ministers, except Sindh’s education minister. However, Sindh’s education secretary was present in the meeting.