Pakistan reports 83 deaths
Staff Reporter Islamabad
The National Command and Operation Centre on Saturday announced that public transport between provinces, cities and within cities will resume functioning from today instead of the previously announced May 17 date of resumption.
The National Command and Operation Centre on Saturday reviewed the implementation of SOPs over the Eidul Fitr holidays and expressed satisfaction on compliance.
A special session, chaired by Federal Minister for Planning Asad Umar, decided to allow markets and shops to remain open till 8pm from May 17 onwards.
The forum also decided that all inter-provincial, intra-city and inter-city public transport can resume from May 16 instead of the earlier decided May 17. It was further decided to continue runing trains with 70pc occupancy in the country.
The NCOC also said that normal working hours for offices will resume from May 17, with the condition of 50pc work from home to remain in place.
Advising the public to continue with the implementation of Covid-19 SOPs, the forum further urged the public to ensure vaccine registration from 1166 prior to visiting vaccination centres.
The NCOC had earlier imposed strict mobility control measures during the Eid holidays, with the objective of mitigating the spread of the pandemic.
According to a statement by the NCOC, the forum “expressed satisfaction on compliance” of SOPs during Eid holidays.
“Forum appreciated the efforts of all stakeholders especially the cooperation rendered by public across the country,” read the statement. According to the statement, a review of the remaining guidelines will be carried out on May 19.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s provincial government also announced restoration of all transport from May 16.
The markets and business activities in the province will remain open in the province till 8:00 PM, said an announcement of the provincial home department.
The government offices will reopen from May 17 under the standard operating procedures (SOPs), according to the government statement. Hotels and restaurants will only allowed take-away service, the home department stated.
Petrol pumps, medical stores, milk shops, hospitals and clinics will remain open, the province announced.
In a sharp decline, Pakistan on Saturday reported less than 2,000 Covid-19 cases and 83 deaths during the past 24 hours.
“The active Covid-19 cases stand at 71,804 in the country,” it said adding that 4,805 patients are currently being treated at 639 nationwide hospitals while 588 are put on ventilators.
The centre further shared 783,480 patients have recovered from the virus out of 874,751 positive cases and added that Punjab reported the most 324,589 cases and 9,322 deaths followed by 297,078 cases and 4,793 deaths in Sindh, 126,614 cases and 3,743 deaths in KP while Balochistan being the smallest province reported 23,814 cases and 262 deaths.
