Mandatory day off in a week abolished as NCOC eases COVID restrictions

ISLAMABAD: National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) Friday announced to end a mandatory day-off of businesses across the country besides also easing other COVID restrictions in the wake of declining virus cases and improved vaccination, ARY NEWS reported.

After an NCOC meeting, it was announced that the fresh non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) including abolishing a mandatory day off in a week would remain applicable between October 16 to 31.

The body overseeing the country’s response to the COVID-19 also decided to increase the number of guests attending a marriage ceremony to 300 from 200 previously while 500 people could attend the outdoor marriage functions in contrast to prior permission of 400.

The cinemas and shrines have also been opened for completely vaccinated people.

It was further announced that the NCOC would once again review the fresh ease in COVID restrictions on October 28 and urged the general public to get vaccinated while considering it a national duty.

Pakistan’s COVID-19 tally

Pakistan has registered 1,086 new COVID-19 cases during the past 24 hours, lifting the overall number of the cases to 1,262,771, National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) said on Friday.

27 more people lost their lives during the said period. The nationwide death toll has jumped to 28,228. As many as 53,590 tests were carried out in the last 24 hours out of which 1,086 turned out to be positive.

The infection rate was recorded at 2.02 per cent as compared to yesterday’s 2.11%.

There are a total 2,131 critical patients in hospitals across the country, the NCOC said, adding that overall 1,194,590 people have regained their health from the COVID-19, including 1,415 in the past 24 hours.

So far, 64,947,702 people have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine including 483,770 in last 24 hours. 34,809,848 people have been fully vaccinated while 510,705 received their second dose in the said period.

The number of total administered doses has reached 93,551,193 with 954,000 in the last 24 hours.