Marred by third Covid wave Azad Kashmir imposes new lockdown policies

MUZAFFARABAD: As the third wave of novel coronavirus continues to wreak havoc across Pakistan, Azad Kashmir, similarly infested with covid cases, rolled out Saturday a new set of policies of smart lockdown to curb the infection spread, ARY News reported.

According to the details on the new notification released today by the authorities in Muzaffarabad, all the schools and colleges in the districts where the covid positivity ratio is above five per cent shall remain closed.

Additionally, the office timings across the Azad Kashmir region for government employees will be from 9 am to 2 pm, according to the notification.

The new guidelines say all the businesses and trade centers will remain shut from 6pm until Sehri with an exception of pharmacies, gas stations, dairy shops, and tandoors, that will be exempt from the lockdown.

Moreover, people under 12 years of age and those above 60 years of age will be restricted to enter any markets whatsoever.

Furthermore, all the public, private parks and assembly places will be under lockdown and will remain shut.

READ: Punjab closes down all colleges across 25 districts amid Covid rise

This followed the earlier development the same day in Punjab.

As the country fights off with all its might the third wave of the global pandemic which is increasingly concerning the governments with mutated variants and increased infection incidence, the higher education authorities in Punjab have today shut down colleges in at least 25 districts across the province.

With the deteriorating infection situation into the third wave of the pandemic, the department decided to completely shut down all colleges falling in the remits of at least 25 districts.