Government announces Aug 18, 19 as Ashura holidays

ISLAMABAD: The interior ministry has Friday announced August 18 and 19 (Wednesday and Thursday) as federal Ashura holidays, ARY News reported.

In a notification issued to that effect, the federal ministry has announced two consecutive days as federally gazetted Ashura holidays that are decided each year subject to the lunar calendar variations.

Separately earlier last week, with Covid-19 positivity rate still hovering above 7.5 per cent in the country, the federal body to resist its spread and wreckage by means of policies and restrictions laid out the code of conduct for Muharram and Ashura Majalis and processions.

These instructions are to be followed across the board.

NCOC charts out Covid SOPs for countrywide Muharram majalis

The sources have told ARY News that the charted code of conduct has been posted to all the provinces and also to Azad Jammu Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan territories.

The National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) has rolled out these instructions and SOPs underlining that all Muharram gatherings and processions would be held in open and ventilated spaces.

Pertinent to note that Pakistan has registered 79 more COVID-19 deaths during the past 24 hours, taking the country’s overall death toll to 24,266.

The National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) said that the country’s number of overall confirmed cases has risen to 1,089,913 after the emergence of 4,619 new infections.