Coronavirus: 16 areas of Lahore put under smart lockdown

By Muhammad JuniadPublished On 05 Jan 2023

LAHORE: Local administration in Lahore has decided to impose smart lockdown in 16 more localities after surging in coronavirus cases, Dunya News reported on Friday.

The notification issued by the Punjab Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department said that there has been a constant increase in positivity percentage in Covid-19 cases in the city which poses a serious threat to public health.

According to the notification, the smart lockdown has been imposed in five areas in Cantt, two localities of Data Ganj Bakhsh Town, three areas of Nishtar Town, four neighborhoods of Samanabad Town, and one locality each in Shalimar Town and Wagah Town.

The district administration also issued standard operating procedures (SOPs) to ensure the implementation of the smart lockdowns. Under these SOPs, all markets, shopping malls, restaurants, offices (public and private) in these areas would remain closed.

There shall be a complete ban on the movement of people to and from these affected areas while public and private transport will also remain suspended in these areas.

All the grocery stores, fruit and vegetable shops, tandoors, and petrol pumps in the hotspot areas will remain open from 7 am to 7 pm. Milk and meat shops have been allowed to open from 7 am to 7 pm. Medical stores, laboratories, clinics, and hospitals in these areas will remain open for 24 hours.

Meanwhile, Pakistan has reported 54 deaths in the last 24 hours by novel coronavirus as the number of positive cases has surged to 600,198. The nationwide tally of fatalities has jumped to 13,430 on Friday.

According to the latest figures by the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), 2,701 persons tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 24 hours.

Sindh remains the worst-hit province by the pandemic in terms of cases followed by Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan. Most numbers of casualties have been reported in Punjab.

Till now 260,661 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Sindh, 182,576 in Punjab, 75,052 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 19,171 in Balochistan, 46,963 in Islamabad, 10,816 in Azad Kashmir, and 4,959 in Gilgit-Baltistan.

Furthermore, 5,698 individuals have lost their lives to the epidemic in Punjab, 4,452 in Sindh, 2,138 in KP, 202 in Balochistan, 520 in Islamabad, 317 in Azad Kashmir, and 103 in GB.