(Karachi) As part of safety measures to curb spread of COVID-19, the Sindh High Court (SHC) banned entry of irrelevant people in the court premises, local media reported on Tuesday.

As per details, the provincial high court has issued instructions to people and lawyers to not enter the court premises without any valid reason.

It stated that staff and lawyers scheduled for hearings can only appear before the court and the relevant parties in cases if they have been specifically summoned.

Earlier, the government imposed 5,082 smart lockdowns in various paces across the country to check the spread of COVID-19.

As per the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), 1,459 smart lockdowns are in place in Punjab, 206 in Sindh, 182 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 3,205 in Islamabad and 30 in Gilgit-Baltistan.

The NCOC stated that a complete lockdown has been implemented in Azad Kashmir till December 6 as the highest positivity rate is recorded in the region followed by 11.95 per cent in Balochistan.

In AJK region, the COVID-19 positivity rate was recorded highest in Mirpur up to 27.72 per cent followed by Muzaffarabad up to 23.44 per cent. The positivity rate in Sindh’s Hyderabad city stands at 18.21 per cent. 2,046 patients are in critical condition after contracting COVID-19.

The NCOC stated that five major cities of the country, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Karachi, Hyderabad and Peshawar were contributing 70 percent of coronavirus spread. The forum urged the public to follow SOPs and guidelines to curb spread of the disease.