Daily Times

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Monday allowed businesses to remain open six days a week, as coronavirus cases decline in the province, a private TV channel reported.

Earlier, businesses were closed for two days throughout the week to discourage people crowding markets. Also, the government had taken the decision to stem the spread of the virus. According to the government’s notification, the district administration will determine the day when businesses remain closed in the districts.

The notification instructed district administrations to hold meetings with businesses in this regard. It said that businesses will be allowed to operate in the province till 8pm. A similar decision had been taken by the Sindh government when it announced that businesses will now only be closed only on Sundays.

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah chaired a meeting of the task force on coronavirus, in which it was decided to close the business activity for one day instead of two days a week. The orders by the provincial governments come as the country reported 1,019 fresh cases and 43 new deaths due to coronavirus in the last 24 hours.