LAHORE: The Punjab government has enforced lockdown in 40 more areas of five cities of the province following the reports of spread of the coronavirus.

The city district and the police have sealed 22 areas of Lahore, nine of Rawalpindi, four of Gujranwala, three of Gujrat and two localities of Hafizabad.

A notification in this regard was issued by the Primary & Secondary Healthcare Department Punjab here on Saturday.

According to the notification, the Punjab government imposed lockdown on the reports of increasing number of cases of the virus. In Lahore, the lockdown was imposed in Nishtar Block of Iqbal Town, Satluj Block, some areas of Wahdat Road, Gulgasht Town of Lahore Cantt, Rizwan Garden on Canal Road, some areas of Lahore Medical Housing Society, Sector Q in Defence Phase II and some streets of Defence Phase I and Phase IV.

Similarly, some areas and streets of Askari 10, Cavalry Ground Extension, Officers Colony, Zarrar Shaheed Road, Green Town Sector D-2, Township, Military Accounts Cooperative Housing Society, Khayaban-i-Ameen Housing Society, Johar Town Block A and Wapda Town Block E-I have been sealed by police.

As many as 36 people died and 584 more patients tested positive for the virus during the last 24 hours in Punjab. According to the official update, 362 of the new cases were reported from Lahore alone. The death toll in Punjab reached 3,558 while total number of positive cases reached 130,706.

Published in Dawn, December 20th, 2020