Balochistan announces schools’ closure over Covid-19 situation

ISLAMABAD: The Balochistan government announced the closure of all schools across the province to contain the spread of novel coronavirus on Monday.
The decision was taken after a sharp increase in Covid-19 cases in the province, said the Balochistan education minister. “All government schools will remain closed till Eidul Fitr.”
On the other hand, the private schools’ administration has rejected the decision of the provincial government and kept the schools open on Monday.
The spokesperson for the private schools said they were not taken into confidence by the provincial government and the decision about the closure of schools was made in haste.
On Sunday, Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood had announced the resumption of academic activities for classes ninth to 12th in order to ensure preparation for the scheduled board exams nationwide. Mahmood had announced the decision in a presser after he chaired a meeting of health and education ministers from all provinces and regions in the country.
The country grapples with the third wave of coronavirus as 5,152 new infections were reported during the last 24 hours, raising the national tally to 761,437.
According to data issued by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), 60,162 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours from which 5,512 tests returned positive with an 8.56 per cent positivity rate.
About 73 more people succumbed to the coronavirus during the past 24 hours, taking the countrywide death tally to 16,316.
In a provincial breakdown, Sindh has reported 272,729 cases, Punjab 270,338, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) 106,500, Islamabad 70,079, Balochistan 20,940, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) 15,524, and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) 5,176.
The total number of people recuperating from the disease stands at 662,845, while 4,515 patients are critically ill due to Covid-19 and are currently under treatment at the country’s various hospitals.
The government and health officials have warned if the ongoing pace of infections continues for another two weeks, the situation may go “worse,” as the country’s already weak health system is saturating.
Sindh reported at least 737 coronavirus cases during the past 24 hours, taking the tally to 273,465. This is the first time in over three months that the province has reported over 700 cases in a single day. On January 31, Sindh had recorded 812 cases.
According to Syed Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, three more patients succumbed to the deadly virus as the death toll jumped to 4,556. He further said that 351 patients recovered overnight, taking the total to 260,679.
Punjab has reported 28 more Covid-19 deaths in the last 24 hours, health department officials said on Monday. According to Punjab’s Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department, 2,766 infections of the coronavirus were reported across the province in the last 24 hours.
The tally of deaths by Covid-19 in the province has reached 7,457 with 28 more deaths. The provincial capital city of Lahore reported 1,413 new cases of Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, according to the health department.