'Nothing alarming', says Murad Raas on COVID-19 situation in Punjab schools

LAHORE: Punjab Education Minister Murad Raas on Sunday said that there was nothing alarming as they have witnessed a slight surge in virus cases during COVID-19 testing at schools in the province, ARY NEWS reported.

The education minister took to Twitter to explain the COVID-19 situation in schools and said that they are keeping a very close watch on virus cases in the educational institutes of the Punjab province.

Keeping a very close watch on COVID 19 cases in Schools of Punjab. Random testing is being done continuously. There is a slight increase in numbers but nothing alarming. Situation being analysed on daily basis. There is NO plan to close Schools as of right now. Please follow SOPs

— Murad Raas (@DrMuradPTI) November 1, 2020

“Random testing is being done continuously. There is a slight increase in numbers but nothing alarming,” he said adding that situation is being analysed on daily basis.

He further announced that there is no plan to close schools as of right now and urged the school-goers to strictly follow standard operating procedures (SOPs) devised by the incumbent government.

Punjab COVID-19 cases

The novel coronavirus has claimed five more lives and infected 255 people during the past 24 hours in Punjab on Sunday.

In a statement on the daily COVID-19 situation, the spokesperson Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department Punjab said that five more people succumbed to the deadly virus in 24 hours, taking the death toll to 2,362 in the province.

He maintained that 255 new cases of the coronavirus were reported in the province during the last 24 hours. The province has overall reported 104,271 cases out of which 97,456 have recovered their health.

Chief Minister Usman Buzdar on Saturday had said that the number of COVID-19 cases is rising as people were not following the standard operating procedures (SOPs).