COVID-19 spike: Smart lockdown imposed in more areas of Lahore

LAHORE: The Punjab health secretary announced the imposition of smart lockdown in 13 more areas of the provincial capital Lahore in order to curb the spread of coronavirus pandemic during its second wave, ARY News reported on Saturday.

The provincial government approved the imposition of smart lockdown in the 13 more areas becoming hotspots of the virus.

Shopping malls, restaurants and offices in those areas declared under lockdown will be closed, whereas, movement of local residents will also be restricted by the authorities, said secretary health.

The secretary added that the local authorities will allow only one person and a vehicle to move at a time, whereas, a complete ban will be observed on all gatherings and events.

Read: Karachi continues to record highest test positivity rate across country

Medical services will remain open for 24 hours a day while grocery, meat shops, bakeries, flour mills, tandoor and petrol pumps will be permitted to continue businesses from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm.

Pakistan recorded 71 deaths and 2,729 new cases on Saturday due to the COVID-19 in the last 24 hours.

In the past 24 hours, 71 more people succumbed to the disease, taking the death toll to 8,724. 2,116 patients have recovered from the virus during the last 24 hours and 2,470 patients are in critical condition, however, no patient has been declared critical today.

Read: COVID-19: 55 more Lahore areas placed under smart lockdown

The total count of active cases is 45,124 and the positivity rate was recorded up to 6.5 per cent.

According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), with fresh inclusion of the infections in the country the national tally of cases now currently stands at 435,056.

A total of 41,426 tests were conducted across the country during this period. Overall 381,208 people have recovered from the deadly disease so far while 5,990,168 samples have been tested thus far.

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 of the Punjab province.