As the fourth wave of coronavirus weakens in the country, the Sindh government announced its decision to ease some of the Covid-19 restrictions.
Markets, shops, and other businesses will now be allowed to operate till 10 pm, a notification by the Sindh Home Department said. Karachi will observe closed days on Sunday, while Friday will be a safe day across the rest of Sindh.
Moreover, the provincial government has decided to allow indoor dining till 11:59pm with 50% occupancy and has made it mandatory for customers to show their vaccination cards.
The notification further said that indoor weddings and other events, with a maximum of 200 people, will be allowed for vaccinated individuals.
"Railway services will continue to operate with 70% occupancy under strict COVID-19 protocols subject to following of all SOPs with passengers and staff duly vaccinated," the notification read.
However, there will be a complete closure of cinemas throughout Sindh.
During the last 24 hours, Sindh reported 795 new cases and 15 deaths from Covid-19. The provincial tally stands at 446,840, while the death toll has increased to 7,192. So far, 400,027 people have recovered from the novel virus in Sindh.
Pakistan's Covid-19 positivity declines
Pakistan reported coronavirus positivity ratio at 4.78% on September 14, the lowest level reported since July 23 when it stood at 4.89%. During the last 24 hours, 56,733 tests were conducted across the country out of which 2,714 came out positive.
This is the third consecutive day that the country has reported less than 3,000 Covid-19 cases. The national tally now stands at 1,212,809.
Meanwhile, the country has also seen a decrease in its active number of cases which has now reached 77,532. For the last couple of weeks, the active number of cases was reported above 90,000.
Pakistan's Covid-19 positivity ratio rises, daily cases reach 1,347
Moreover, 73 people succumbed to the novel virus during the last 24 hours, taking the national death toll to 26,938.
Presently, the total number of Covid-19 recoveries has reached 1,108,339 after 10,923 people recovered from the deadly virus in the past 24 hours.
Pakistan's vaccine count crosses 70 million
As Pakistan grapples with the coronavirus pandemic, it has pushed up its vaccination drive. The NCOC announced on Wednesday that Pakistan has now administered over 70 million jabs of the Covid-19 vaccine.
In a tweet, the NCOC said that during the last 24 hours, 890,980 doses were administered across the country. So far, Pakistan has administered 70,402,987 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine.
The country intends to vaccinate 70 million people by the end of this year and 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.
NCOC relaxes restrictions in Punjab, KPK
Minister for Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives Asad Umar announced on Tuesday that the government has decided to relax the coronavirus restrictions in 18 districts of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) and Islamabad as the intensity of the fourth Covid-19 wave subsides.
In a press conference, the minister announced that the NCOC has decided to extend strict Covid-19 restrictions imposed in Lahore, Multan, Faisalabad, Sargodha, Gujrat, and Bannu till September 22.
NCOC relaxes some restrictions in Punjab, KPK
During this time period, transport will be allowed with 50% passengers, while educational institutions in these districts will be allowed to reopen on September 16 with 50% attendance, Umar said.
He further said that the timings for outdoor dining have been changed from 10pm till midnight, while indoor dining will remain closed. Amusement parks and gyms will be opened for only vaccinated citizens, and gathering of 400 people will only be allowed during this time period, the NCOC head said.