Daily Times

The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) has decided to lift additional restrictions in five districts of Punjab and one of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after September 23.

The decision was made at the NCOC meeting headed by the Federal Minister for Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives Asad Umar, over the observance of a decline in the transmission of the disease in districts where the prevalence of disease was high.

Per the decision, curbs have been loosened in Lahore, Faislabad, Multan, Gujrat, Sargodha, and Bannu districts. However, the general coronavirus-related restrictions will remain imposed across the country till September 30. Meanwhile, a review of the decision will be carried out on September 28.

Last week, the NCOC chairman had announced that strict restrictions from 24 districts throughout the country were being lifted except for the aforementioned six districts. The general restrictions that are to remain in place in the country are as follows: All the trade and business activities will be allowed to function till 10pm and remain suspended once a week.

Essential services, such as pharmacies, medical stores, other medical facilities, hearing and optical aid centres, and vaccination centres; petrol pumps, tandoors, and milk shops are exempt from the restricted timings and will function 24-hours a day for the entire week, a notification said. Indoor and outdoor dining will be allowed till 11:59 pm, while indoor dining is limited to only 50% occupancy of only vaccinated individuals.

Under the general restrictions which will remain in place, indoor weddings will be allowed with a maximum of 200 vaccinated guests, while outdoor weddings will be allowed with a maximum limit of 400 vaccinated guests. Same are the conditions for any other indoor and outdoor gatherings or events, respectively. All the public transport will be allowed to function with an occupancy level of 50%, while the railways shall continue to operate with a maximum occupancy of 70%. There will be a complete ban on snacks serving to the passengers in all public transport services including domestic air travel.

For offices and establishments, 100% attendance will be allowed during normal working hours.

The federating units will ensure the policy of controlled tourism for only vaccinated people.

Shrines will be allowed to reopen at the discretion of federating units or local administrations; gyms will remain open for vaccinated individuals only; amusement and recreation activities will be allowed with 50% occupancy while cinemas and sports activities will remain closed.

All the services and activities allowed to operate will be subjected to compulsory mask-wearing.

It was stated at the meeting that the NCOC is closely monitoring the situation of disease transmission and the healthcare system therefore decisions will be taken in accordance with the requirement in case there is a need to control the spread of the virus. The citizens have been advised to get inoculated with the Sinopharm vaccine at the earliest, keeping in view the availability of the said vaccine in abundant amounts. The meeting observed that the rate of coronavirus positivity in Karachi and Lahore dropped down to 7% in the last 24 hours. Pakistan on Tuesday reported 1,897 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, the lowest number of single-day infections in the last two months.

The country last reported a similar daily case count at 1,841 cases on July 24. Pakistan’s COVID-19 positivity rate also dropped to the lowest figure, 4.10%, since July 11 as the virus cases continue to decline in the country. According to the NCOC, Pakistan’s total number of cases after the latest additions climbed to 1,227,905 while 81 deaths in the last 24 hours took the death toll to 27,327 in the country. Most deaths occurred in Punjab followed by Sindh. The NCOC said Pakistan conducted 46,231 tests of the infection in the last 24 hours. At least 2,618 people, meanwhile, recovered from the virus in the last 24 hours, taking the tally of recoveries to 1,137,656.

The number of active cases stands at 62,922. The active cases have fallen consistently over the last week. Among the active cases, 4,846 patients are under critical care.