NCOC imposes more Covid restrictions, all commercial activities to close at 8pm
- By Jahangir Khan -
- Mar 22, 2021
ISLAMABAD: In view of the surge in coronavirus cases in the country, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Monday imposed more restrictions to curb the spread of COVID-19 cases in the country, ARY News reported.
A meeting of the NCOC was held under the chairmanship of the Federal Minister for Planning Asad Umar in which all the Provincial Chief Secretaries participated through video link.
The NCOC expressed grave concern over the Covid-19 situation and decided to take drastic measures in the worst Covid affected cities.
The meeting decided that cities with an 8% positive case rate would be declared high risk.
Read: COVID-19: Pakistan witnesses 3,669 new cases, 20 deaths in a day
According to the NCOC statement, the affected districts will have two days off per week while the days of leave will be decided at the provincial discretion. Public and private offices and court staff will work with 50 percent of staff.
According to a notification issued in this regard, the following measures will be taken:
- Indoor dining will be prohibited
- All sports, festivals will be totally banned
- Shrines, cinemas, parks and music centers shut down
- All indoor activities/marriages will be prohibited.
- Outdoor activities with a maximum of 300 people will be allowed till 8pm
- 50 percent work from home policy will be continued
- Intercity public transport to operate at 50% of capacity
- Rail service to operate at 70% of capacity
- The shops which are necessary will remain open for 24 hours
Read: NCOC to decide about closure of educational institutions on March 24
These restrictions will be continued till 11th April 2021. The next meeting of NCOC will be held on April 7 to review the situation of coronavirus in the country.
Pakistan Covid cases
Coronavirus has claimed 20 more lives in Pakistan during the past 24 hours, taking the overall death toll to 13,863.
The latest statistics of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) showed the COVID-19 has claimed 20 more lives and 3,669 fresh infections were reported during the period.
The total count of active cases is 33,070. The positivity ratio was recorded at 8.43 per cent during the past one day.
On the other hand, Pakistan will receive the fourth shipment of a Chinese COVID-19 vaccine this month.
The sources said the shipment containing 60,000 doses of CanSino Biologics COVID-19 vaccine will arrive in Islamabad on March 26 while the fifth batch of the vaccine will reach the country on March 31.