Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Sunday announced on Sunday that all kinds of gatherings, indoor as well as outdoor, have been banned from April 5.

The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) decided the ban would extend to both indoor and outdoor weddings, however, “provinces will be at liberty to implement restrictions in [an] early time frame as per the situation on ground”.

Under the guidelines of the recent session, NCOC will provide updated hotspot maps to provinces for enforcement of expanded lockdowns with effect from 29th March 21.”

This includes all social, cultural, political, sports and other events, the guidelines further stated.

NCOC mentioned that the government is also mulling the prospects of more restrictions on inter-provincial travelling. “Various options for reduction of inter-provincial transport were considered,” the statement read.

More than 4,000 COVID-19 cases were reported yesterday in Pakistan for the second day as the country continues to grapple with the third virus wave.

The total number of cases rose to 649,824 after 4,468 cases were recorded over 24 hours.

Sixty-seven people succumbed to the virus, taking the death toll to 14,158. Most deaths were reported in Punjab after 48 people died the previous day. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa recorded 14 deaths, Islamabad and Azad Jammu and Kashmir two each while Sindh reported just one death. No new deaths were recorded in Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan.

There are now 42,384 active cases and 2,842 critical cases in the country.  With 44,279 tests conducted over the past 24 hours, the virus positivity ratio has reached 10.1.

The positivity has been consistently higher than five percent since March 10