MANSEHRA: The coronavirus positivity rate has dropped considerably because of the effective enforcement of the weeklong lockdown across the Mansehra district.

“If we had not effectively enforced the lockdown before and after Eid, positivity ratio could have gone up,” deputy commissioner Dr Qasim Ali Khan told reporters here on Sunday.

He said the police and officials of the revenue department were deployed at 13 places to ensure that no tourist entered the Kaghan and Shogran valleys.

“We returned the tourist families who had made their way to Kaghan valley and Shogran from Punjab and rest of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” Dr Qasim said.

He said the police department, Kaghan Development Authority, tehsil municipal administrations of Oghi, Mansehra, Balakot and Baffa-Pakhal helped ensure strict implementation of the lockdown.

“Assistant commissioners and additional assistant commissioners didn’t sleep the entire ‘Chand Raat’ to ensure strict enforcement of the lockdown,” Dr Qasim said.

“Hoteliers in Kaghan valley also cooperated with the district administration by keeping their hotels shut,” he added.

Also on Sunday, the Baffa-Pakhal tehsil municipal administration along with the police stopped vehicles coming from Lahore, Rawalpindi and Islamabad at Shatay interchange on Hazra Motorway and didn’t allow them to proceed to the tourist destinations in Siren, Konsh and Kaghan.

Published in Dawn, May 17th, 2021