ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: The Punjab government announced to enforce lockdowns in districts with a positivity ratio of more than 12 per cent from April 1.
“The lockdown will continue till April 11,” said Chief Minister Usman Buzdar while speaking to reporters. He added that this will be reviewed by the cabinet committee on Covid-19 after a week.
Buzdar said that the government will not impose any restrictions on economic activities or industries. “The construction, transport, goods and industrial sectors will continue to operate as per regular according to standard operating procedures (SOPs),” he said.
There will be a complete ban on wedding events and other gatherings in the province. The mass transit transport systems, including the Orange Line Metro Train and the Speedo bus service, will also be closed.
There will be also a complete ban on indoor and outdoor dining at all restaurants and hotels. However, takeaway and home delivery will be allowed.
Restrictions, Buzdar said, will continue to be in place on sporting, cultural and social activities. Parks will remain closed and commercial timings for markets will be till 6:00 pm, while shops will remain closed on the weekends.
The latest outbreak of cases is centred around Punjab. On Monday, it recorded 2,309 new cases of the coronavirus after conducting 15,780 tests. With an alarming positivity ratio of 14.63 per cent, the provincial caseload of cases stands at 215,227.
The death toll stands at 6,246 with 17 more deaths.
Meanwhile, 1,580 new recoveries recorded, leaving 185,877 fully recovered, and 23,104 active cases of the contagious disease.
Special Assistant to Chief Minister Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan said that wearing a face mask had been made compulsory for everyone and those violating would be fined and could be booked and sentenced to six months in prison.
Separately, a cabinet committee on coronavirus will decide on a proposal to close the entire Lahore city to all those travelling to and from her on a daily basis.
Entry and exit would only be allowed in extreme emergency cases, the administration said.
NEW MEASURES TO CURTAIL SPREAD:
As new cases rage out of control, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) reimposed the ban on public gatherings and wedding ceremonies to curb the spread.
In addition, the authorities banned all social, cultural, political, sports, and other events including indoor and outdoor wedding ceremonies until April 5.
“Based on continuing increase in disease spread & fast pace at which hospital fill up is taking place, particularly critical covid patients, decided to further tighten restrictions,” Minister for Planning and Development Asad, who also heads NCOC, tweeted.
However, the NCOC said, provinces “will be at liberty to implement restrictions in early time frame as per the situation on ground”.
In a press statement issued after the meeting, the NCOC said that the government is also considering the prospects of imposing targeted restrictions on inter-provincial travelling.
“Various options for reduction of inter-provincial transport were [being] considered,” the statement read.
“However, a final decision will be taken based on the input from all provinces and an analysis of the data about the number of inter-provincial commuters via air, rail, and road.”
The country on Monday registered 4,525 new infections of the coronavirus as the transmission rate soared to 11.2 per cent, a marker of the continuing upward trend, data showed.
The government portal keeping track of the outbreak has been posting more than 4,000 daily infections for four days now, confirming suggestions of a third, deadlier wave of the pandemic.
With new infections, the toll climbed to 659,116. Meanwhile, in the last 24 hours, fatalities increased by 41 to 14,256. The 2.2 per cent death rate remains unchanged.
Recoveries increased by 2,268 to reach 598,197, or 90.8 per cent of total infections. There are currently 46,663 active cases, with 3,055 of them in critical condition.
In a statement issued after the daily morning briefing, the NCOC identified 19 districts reporting a high positivity ratio: Swat 23 per cent, Peshawar 22 per cent, Nowshehra 19 per cent, Lahore 17 per cent, Rawalpindi 15 per cent, Faisalabad 15 per cent, Sargodha 12 per cent, Sialkot 12 per cent, Malakand 12 per cent, Swabi 12 per cent, Multan 12 per cent, Mandi Bahauddin 11 per cent, Gujranwala 10 per cent, Okara 9 per cent, Rahim Yar Khan 9 per cent, Toba Tek Singh 9 per cent, Bahawalpur 8 per cent, Dir Lower 8 per cent and Gujrat 7 per cent.
Guidelines issued by the World Health Organisation (WHO) last year suggested test-positive rates must remain below five per cent for two consecutive weeks before government loosen restrictions.
The government suggested a British variant of the virus, detected in Pakistan in February, was likely behind the flare-up in infections. “This relatively more contagious and deadlier variant seems to be a major cause for the sudden and sharp increase in the spread of the disease,” Asad Umar told reporters.
The variant — B.1.1.7, also known as VOC (“variant of concern”) 202012/01 — drove a surge in cases that flooded England’s hospitals, pushed its death toll above 125,000, and triggered travel bans by dozens of countries.
