Educational institutions partially reopen

All schools in Punjab, all educational institutions from grade-9 and above in Sindh and all higher education institutions in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) will reopen today (Monday) as the third wave of coronavirus pandemic shows signs of easing with the positivity rate lowering to 3.1%.

The federal education ministry and the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) had asked the Punjab School Education Department to ensure vaccination of teachers and other school staff before the reopening of schools. However, about 150,000 teachers in Punjab have not yet been vaccinated.

“All public and private sector universities will reopen under strict compliance of the standard operating procedure (SOPs) notified by the NCOC,” read a notification from the K-P Higher Education Department.

The provincial government of Sindh on Sunday also decided to reopen educational institutions from Class-IX and above with 50% attendance from Monday (today).

A high level meeting presided over by Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah also eased a number of other restrictions imposed during the third wave of the pandemic and allowed shops and markets to operate till 8pm while also permitting marriage halls to start offering marriage functions in open spaces.

According to the daily data issued by the NCOC, 1,629 more people were tested positive for the deadly virus in the last 24 hours with 76 more patients succumbing to the disease. Some 2,726 people also recovered from the contagious disease on Saturday.

Out of the 76 Covid patients who died in the past 24 hours, 66 were under treatment in hospitals. Half of the people – 33 in total – were on ventilators.

During the last 24 hours, most of the deaths occurred in Punjab followed by Sindh. There were 3,303 Covid infected patients under treatment in critical care in various facilities.

The Covid positivity ratio during the last 24 hours was recorded at 3.1%. Positivity ratio is the percentage of actual positive cases appearing in every 100 tests performed. The positivity ratio on Saturday was 3.81%.

The maximum numbers of ventilators were occupied in Peshawar (26%), Lahore (30%), Bahawalpur (36%) and Multan (56%). The maximum oxygen beds were occupied in Abbottabad (32%), Peshawar 31%, Karachi 33% and Multan 30%.

Around 418 ventilators were occupied elsewhere in the country while no Covid affected person was on ventilator in Balochistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit Baltistan (GB).

Some 52,427 tests were conducted across the country on Saturday, including 13,536 in Sindh, 22,819 in Punjab, 8,713 in the K-P, 4,759 in the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), 1,690 in Balochistan, 282 in the G-B, and 628 in the AJK.

Around 863,111 people have recovered from the disease so far across Pakistan making it a significant count with over 90% recovery rate. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, a total of 932,140 cases have been detected. This figure includes the perished, recovered, and under treatment patients.

About 21,265 people have died in the country since March 2020. Around 5,116 have died in Sindh; 10,290 in Punjab; 4,144 in the K-P; 765 in the ICT; 289 in Balochistan; 107 in the GB and 554 in the AJK.

A total of 13,523,599 Covid tests have been conducted so far, while 639 hospitals are equipped with Covid facilities. Some 3,574 corona patients were admitted in hospitals across the country.