NCOC expands Covid-19 restrictions to 27 cities

The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) expanded on Sunday its coronavirus restrictions to a total of 27 cities as the country continued to battle the fourth wave of Covid-19.

Earlier, the restrictions had been imposed in Rawalpindi, Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan, Peshawar, Abbottabad, Karachi, Hyderabad, Islamabad, Muzaffarabad, Mirpur, Gilgit and Skardu.

The NCOC has now expanded its coronavirus Standard Operation Procedures (SOPs) to Swat, Mansehra, Lower Dir, Swabi, Swat and Chitral. The restrictions have also been expanded to Khushab, Khanewal, Mianwali, Sargodha, Khushab, Bahawalpur, Gujranwala and Rahim Yar Khan.

In a statement, the NCOC said it will conduct a review of the SOPs on September 13.

The following restrictions have been imposed under the new directives:

• Market and business activities to continue till 8 pm.

• Pharmacies, medical stores, health centres, vaccination centres, petrol pumps, tandoors, bakeries, dairy shops, food takeaways, e-commerce, courier postal services, gas, water, and electricity offices, cellular companies, auto workshops, oil depots and markets (vegetables, fruits, grains & livestock) would be allowed to work 24 hours, seven days a week.

• Saturday and Sunday will be observed as ‘Closed days’ whereby all activities will be banned and markets and establishments will remain closed.

• There will be a complete ban on indoor weddings.

• However, outdoor weddings will be allowed with a maximum limit of 300 guests under strict Covid-19 protocols.

• Shrines and cinemas will remain closed.

• Outdoor gatherings will be allowed for a maximum of 300 individuals under strict Covid-19 protocols.

• There will be a complete ban on contact sports.

• All gyms will remain open only for vaccinated individuals.

• Normal office working hours for public and private offices will continue. However, the attendance level has been reduced from 100% to 50%.

• The maximum occupancy level of public transport is reduced from 70% to 50%.

• All amusement parks, water sports, and swimming pools will remain closed. However, public parks will remain open under strict Covid protocols.

NCOC imposes stricter restrictions in major cities as Covid cases rise

Cases rise

The decision by the NCOC comes as Pakistan reported another 3,909 coronavirus cases during the last 24 hours, taking the national tally to 1,152,481.

During the last 24 hours, 62,918 tests were conducted across the country, taking the total number to 17,647,941. The national positivity ratio was recorded at 6.21%.

The death toll from the novel virus has now increased to 25,604 after the country lost 69 more people to Covid-19.

Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid said last month that Pakistan is facing the 4th wave of the pandemic and the presence of the Delta variant poses a huge challenge.

Punjab imposes tighter Covid-19 restrictions in major cities

"Pakistan was comparatively less affected by the pandemic. Punjab has battled it bravely. The third wave was deadlier as mortality was greater during this wave. People will have to follow SOPs," she said.

Pakistan hits 50 million vaccinations milestone

Meanwhile, as Pakistan continued its inoculation campaign against the novel coronavirus, it hit the target of administering over 50 million vaccines to its population on Friday.

The government aims to vaccinate 70 million people against the coronavirus by end of this year.

It has also committed to spending $1.1 billion on procuring the Covid-19 vaccine to inoculate its people. Pakistan has been inoculating the citizens with CanSino, Sinopharm, SinoVac, AstraZeneca, Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.

The country also received 3.7 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine via the COVAX facility.