Shops in Faisalabad are still operating with their shutters down for the police but open for people. A lockdown has been imposed in the city to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus across the country. Section 144 has been imposed in Faisalabad, which means that there is a restriction on gatherings of more than five people and movement has been restricted too.
Sindh Education Minister Saeed Ghani said Tuesday the lockdown rules will be relaxed after April 14. Ghani explained in a statement that the decision is taken so that some sectors can be given conditional permission to resume their operations. However, he reminded people to continue following the lockdown rules as per the law until the aforementioned day.
Rawalpindi city’s crime rate dropped to zero since the day the Punjab government enforced a province-wide lockdown on 24 March. The crime rate in Rawalpindi city had already decreased by 70% to 80% before the enactment of lockdown because most citizens limited their movement due to Coronavirus outbreak while the police took care of the rest through patrolling every nook and cranny of the city, according to the SP Saddar Division, Rai Mazhar Iqbal.
Punjab has decided to close all its shops and markets by 5pm to intensify the lockdown to curb the coronavirus spread in the province. The decision was taken by CM Usman Buzdar. All shops and markets have been instructed to operate from 9am to 5pm. This restriction, however, won’t be placed on medical stores and pharmacies.
China has announced to lift the lockdown imposed on coronavirus epicentre Wuhan last December. The decision will come into affect from April 8 after which people will be able to leave the city and the Hubei province, the government announced on Tuesday. The development came after Hubei reported zero new infections on March 19. Previously, China had reported 80,000 cases and 3,200 fatalities from the virus.
Police have taken into custody 90 people for violating the lockdown in Karachi on Monday as the cases were registered against 24 people for coming out of their homes for no valid reasons. The Sindh government has imposed a lockdown across the province in an attempt to stem the spread of coronavirus. All public places, offices, public transport and bus stands would remain closed for 15 days.