LAHORE: The Punjab government on Tuesday extended the general lockdown for another 15 days till July 30.

According to a notification of the Punjab government, all businesses like restaurants, marriage halls, cinema houses and educational institutions would stay shut till the end of this month.

Similarly, all religious congregations and sport activities would not be allowed in the province. This notification, however, would not affect the smart lockdown conditions in the province. There would be a separate notification dealing with its schedule – extension or otherwise.

Meanwhile, 13 corona deaths were reported in the Punjab during the last 24 hours along with 449 new cases, taking total death toll to 2,026, and the number of the affected to 87,492, says the date released by primary and secondary healthcare department.

Lahore continues to be the hotspot with 220 new cases, followed by Rawalpindi with 56 cases and Gujrat 27.

According to the primary and secondary healthcare department, 7,375 tests (conducted in the last 24 hours) showed 449 positive cases.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Punjab has carried out 604,349 tests with 87, 492 testing positive. Of them 63,977 have recovered so far.

Published in Dawn, July 15th, 2020