LAHORE: The Punjab government on Saturday imposed smart lockdowns in several neighbourhoods of Lahore, Rawalpindi and Gujrat — identified as coronavirus hotspots — to slow the spread of the third wave of the outbreak.
With 34 more deaths, Punjab reported 1,239 new coronavirus positive cases on Saturday, taking the total number of infections to 183,815 so far.
Despite confirmation of the third wave of the virus in Punjab, the government seems reluctant to increase the number of the Covid-19 tests. On Saturday, according to the official figures, the government conducted only 16,377 tests across the province.
According to a spokesperson for the Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department (P&SHD), the restrictions are enforced in 16 areas of Lahore, 4 of Rawalpindi, and 17 of Gujrat.
In the provincial capital, street 15 in sector-X of DHA Phase-3; street 1 in sector-A of Askari-10; street 5 in Cavalry Ground, main street in Madni Colony on Mohni Road, Sohni Street in Gawalmandi, street 4 in sector-B of Askari-11, street-3 in sector-B of State Life Housing Society, street 3in sector-E of Engineers Town, Muhammadi Street in Islamia Park, several streets in Jahanzeb, Gulshan and Raza blocks of Iqbal Town, street 32 in Nawab Colony in Misri Shah, sector-B of Bismillah Housing Scheme, street-10 in sector-G of Wapda Officers Colony in Wahga Town have been sealed under smart lockdown.
Similarly, several neighnourhoods in Gujrat, Kharian, and Jalalpur Jattan in the Gujrat district have been put under smart quarantine.
In Rawalpindi, several streets in Sadiqabad, Allama Iqbal Colony, Azizabad and Dhok Paracha neighnourhoods have been sealed.
All shopping malls, restaurants, private and government workplaces located in these areas will remain closed during the period.
The smart lockdown is imposed to limit the social movement in the hotspots and to protect the people living in close proximity from Covid-19.
In any urgency, only one person of the family is allowed to go out and/or use one vehicle as all kinds of gatherings and meetings will remain suspended.
Medical services such as pharmacies, laboratories, medical stores, collection centres, hospitals and clinics will remain open round the clock.
Whereas dairy shops, chicken, meat and fish shops, as well as bakeries, will operate between 7:00 am and 7:00 pm.
Grocery stores, general stores, flour mills, fruit and vegetable shops, tandoors, and fuel pumps will remain open between 9:00 am and 7:00 pm.
The danger of coronavirus has not yet subsided therefore precautionary measures to protect oneself from the pandemic need to be taken, said the spokesperson.
The measure comes a day after the Punjab government has released a new list of high-burden districts showing the infection rate of the virus increasing fast.
Gujranwala is at the top of the list with a 9 percent infection rate, Lahore and Multan have an 8 percent infection rate, Faisalabad and Sargodha 6 percent, and Rawalpindi 4 percent.
Official figures suggested that though the next-generation sequencing (NGS) system has detected the fast spread United Kingdom variant, the death rate has not been much alarming in Punjab.
what about ary laguna gujranwala?