A day after the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) decided to extend restrictions to curb the spread of Covid-19, the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) governments on Friday notified the closure of schools in cities with high infection rate till Sept 15. “All Public and Private Schools of Punjab to remain closed until Wednesday September 15th, 2021,” Punjab Education Minister Murad Raas announced in a post on his official Twitter handle. Punjab’s cities where schools have been closed include Rawalpindi, Lahore, Gujrat, Gujranwala, Sheikhupura, Sialkot, Faisalabad, Sargodha, Khushab, Mianwali, Bhakkar, Khanewal, Multan, Bahawalpur and Rahim Yar Khan. Separately, KP Education Minister Shahram Khan Tarakai tweeted that schools in Peshawar, Swabi, Malakand, Swat, Haripur, Abbottabad, Mansehra and Dera Ismail Khan will remain closed until Sept 15 in line with the NCOC’s decision. On Thursday, the NCOC – Pakistan’s nerve centre to control the Covid-19 pandemic –decided to extend the closure of all educational institutions till September 15 in districts with high coronavirus prevalence.