Punjab clamps smart lockdown in more areas of Lahore, other cities

LAHORE: The Punjab government on Saturday announced to impose smart lockdown in more areas of the province in order to curb the spread of coronavirus pandemic second wave, ARY News reported.

Provincial government has notified imposition of smart lockdown in several areas of provincial capital city Lahore, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala and Hafizabad.

The government has announced lockdown in those areas, which have become hotspots of the virus with increasing number of infections.

The government has clamped smart lockdown in 22 areas in Lahore, nine areas in Rawalpindi, four localities in Gujranwala and three areas of Gujrat, according to the notification.

The health authorities earlier imposed smart lockdown in 13 areas of Lahore and declared closure of the shopping malls, restaurants and offices in areas under lockdown, whereas, movement of local residents were also restricted.

The health secretary had announced that only one person and a vehicle will be allowed to move at a time, whereas, a complete ban will be observed on all gatherings and events.

Earlier on December 8, as many as 55 areas of Lahore had been placed under smart lockdown owing to the rising COVID-19 cases in the provincial capital city.

The statistics of National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) has shown that the coronavirus pandemic claims 87 more lives, whereas, 3,179 new infections were reported during the last 24 hours.

In the past 24 hours, 87 more people succumbed to the disease, taking the death toll to 9,250. 4,649 patients have recovered from the virus during the last 24 hours and 2,486 patients are in critical condition.

The total count of active cases in the country is 40,922 and the positivity rate is recorded up to 6.61 per cent.