Staff Reporter
Lahore
The Punjab government announced further relaxations in the lockdown on Friday and allowed public transport services, shopping malls and automobile production units to resume activity from May 18.
According to Punjab Industries and Trade Minister Mian Aslam Iqbal, the standard operating procedures for shopping malls and the automobile industry had been finalised. They would be allowed to resume business activity from Monday, he said.
The working hours for shopping malls have been fixed, said the minister, adding that SOPs will strictly be enforced. These include the use of thermal guns to check temperature, use of hand sanitisers and masks, specified Iqbal.
With regards to the automobile industry, he said production units will be permitted to operate seven days a week, while showrooms will be allowed to open four days a week.
Meanwhile, Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan on Friday said that domestic flight operations will resume from today after a nearly two-month-long suspension. In a video message, Sarwar said that the decision was taken during a National Command and Operation Centre meeting while keeping “the difficulties of people in mind”.
However, he added that only Pakistan International Airlines and Serene Air would be allowed to resume flight operations between five cities — Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar and Quetta.
“Twenty per cent of pre-coronavirus flights will be allowed to operate and the seat occupancy in planes will be limited to 50pc,” he said. Khan added that proper screening of all passengers would be done at airports and their temperatures would be checked before boarding the flight.
