COVID-19 Claims 131 More Lives In Pakistan Over Last 24 Hours

(@fidahassanain)

COVID-19 claims 131 more lives in Pakistan over last 24 hours

National Command and Operation Centre has decided to reopen outdoor restaurants and tourism spots, while education institutes in segregated districts will resume their activities from Monday.

LAHORE:(UrduPoint/Pakistan Point News-May 20th, 2021) Pakistan reported 131 more deaths due to COVID-19 during last 24 hours.

The Official statistics shared by NCOC showed that 4, 207 new cases of Coronavirus surfaced in different parts of the country during the same period. As many as 51,130 tests were carried out in different parts of the country during last 24 hours.

The process of vaccinating people against the virus was continuing smoothly with 4.7 million doses administered so far.

National Command and Operation Centre has decided to reopen outdoor restaurants and tourism spots, while education institutes in segregated districts will resume their activities from Monday.

It was decided in a meeting with Planning Minister Asad Umar in the chair in Islamabad today (Wednesday). The educational institutions in districts with less than five percent positivity ratio of Covid cases can resume educational activities.

Restaurants will remain opened with outdoor dining till 2359 hours whereas takeaways will be allowed 24/7. It was decided that the tourism sector will be opened with strict Covid protocols.

The forum allowed outdoor marriage ceremonies with maximum 150 guests from next month after reviewing the situation on 27th of this month.

It was decided that education sector, other than those opened from Monday, will be opened after the review meeting.

NCOC decided that shrines, cinemas, indoor dining, indoor gyms, amusement parks, contact sports, festivals, inter provincial public transport on Saturday and Sunday with effect from Saturday will continue to remain closed till further review.

It decided that current in-bound and Land Border policy will continue till further orders. The meeting permitted reopening of Gadani and Misri Shah Industry from tomorrow.

All Secondary school Certificate and Higher Secondary School Certificate examinations will be held after 20th of the next month. However, conduct of all professional and non-professional examinations will take place on case-to-case basis.

As per directions of NCOC all professional and examining bodies have been allowed to conduct their respective examinations in accordance with strict Covid SOPs and NCOC guidelines subject to approval of the Ministry of Education.

All professional and examination bodies have also been directed to contact the ministry of education to seek permission for examinations. They will have to provide the details relating to exams including dates, cities, number of participants and examination centers .The NOC with SOP details will be issued within 24 hours after receipt of information.

Fida Hussnain

Fida Hussnain is a lahore based journalist. He writes on politics, religion, social issues and climate change. He is also a research fellow at University of Gujrat.