LAHORE: Beginning tomorrow, the city will be put on full lockdown on Saturdays and Sundays, the city’s commissioner announced on Friday.
Commissioner Lahore Division Muhammad Usman announced on Friday, noting that businesses and markets in the city would remain closed as part of the full lockdown.
The move is being made to save lives as coronavirus cases continue to rise throughout the world, including Punjab.
The commissioner stated that pharmacies, gas stations, and vaccination centers would remain open on weekends.
“I will encourage people to purchase essential products today,” he said.
Punjab’s cabinet suggests an Eid lockout.
The 43rd cabinet meeting was briefed on Thursday at Chief Minister Usman Buzdar’s office on the current corona situation, Ramazan package, and wheat procurement drive.
The cabinet expressed concern about the increasing number of corona cases and death rate and concerns about citizens’ failure to follow SOPs. It agreed to tighten controls even more in cities with a higher positive ratio in order to save citizens’ lives.
Provincial ministers agreed to impose a full lockdown in Lahore and other cities with a higher corona ratio before Eid.
After evaluating the plan for full lockdown, a special cabinet committee will finalize recommendations for submission to the NCOC. Along with the adoption of beds to ensure oxygen availability, it was agreed to raise the number of oxygen beds and ventilators on an emergency basis.
The possibility of discontinuing the supply of oxygen to industries that depend on it was also considered. The meeting agreed to expand the number of vaccination centers and contact the federal government about importing oxygen.
The meeting discusses how the positive case rate has increased to more than 8% in 23 districts and how the number of patients has increased dramatically in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Multan, and Gujranwala.