LAHORE: The Punjab government on Friday banned for two weeks wedding ceremonies (both in marquees and halls), sports activities and public meetings in Lahore and other cities where the coronavirus positive rate exceeds five per cent.

The Jashan-i-Baharan in the city has also been cancelled with immediate effect.

Chief Minister Usman Buzdar chaired a meeting of the cabinet committee for the eradication of coronavirus and expressed concern over the increase in the number of patients in Lahore and other cities.

These arrangements will apply to the cities with more than five per cent coronavirus positive test rate from Sunday and will remain enforced for the next two weeks. The Primary & Secondary Health Department will issue a notification.

It was further decided to close markets after Maghrib while milk and yogurt shops, medical stores and tandoors will be exempted from this prohibition. According to the decision, only takeaways will be allowed from restaurants and the meeting further approved to close down shrines and cinema halls. Parks will be shut down at 6pm.

Spring Festival also becomes a casualty of coronavirus

Half of the staff will work from home and the rest of the officials will be allowed to perform duties at the offices, the meeting settled. The meeting chose to limit the number of passengers in public transport especially the Metro Bus Service and Orange Line Metro Train.

The chief minister maintained that Covid-19 cases were on the rise and all possible steps would be taken as public health is of utmost importance. The decisions had been taken in the larger public interest and more steps could be taken after a review of the situation, he said.

The secretary primary & secondary health briefed that 1,632 new cases were reported and 36 people died of the virus during the last 24 hours and this number was also reported on June 24, 2020. The number of patients increased and children were also being affected while the ratio of the positive tests had increased to eight per cent in Lahore.

It was further briefed that more than 100,000 workers had been vaccinated and elderly citizens were also being vaccinated. It decided to take steps for securing the lives of the common man in cities.

Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid, the chief secretary, the IG police, SMBR, ACS (Home), administrative secretaries, the Lahore commissioner and medical experts attended the meeting while high-level military officials and commissioners participated through video link.

Published in Dawn, March 13th, 2021