Punjab eases lockdown restrictions in 15 districts till September 15

• All business, commercial activities to remain closed on Sundays.
• Indoor and outdoor dining allowed till midnight; shrines and gyms allowed to remain open.
• Offices allowed to resume normal working hours with 100% attendance.

LAHORE: The Punjab government has decided to ease the lockdown in 15 districts of Punjab till September 15.

The Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department (P&SHCD) issued a notification, stating that business and commercial activities shall continue till 10pm in the said districts of the province.

As per the notification, the ease in lockdown comes into force with immediate effect and will remain in force till September 15, 2021.

"This order shall come into force with immediate effect in the territorial limits of Punjab, except for the high disease prevalent cities […], and shall remain in force till September 15, 2021," read the notification.

High disease prevalent cities — Lahore, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Multan, Khanewal, Mianwali, Sargodha, Khushab, Bahawalpur, Gujranwala, and Rahim Yar Khan — will be exempt from this notification.

All the trade and business activities will remain suspended on Sunday.

Essential services such as pharmacies, medical stores, other medical facilities, and vaccination centres, industrial and agriculture industries, petrol pumps, bakeries, milk shops, e-commerce services and others are exempt from the restricted timings and will function 24 hours a day, the notification said.

Hotels and Restaurants

Under the relaxed curbs, restaurants, hotels, and other eateries will be allowed to offer indoor and outdoor dining, with only 50% of their seating capacity, to only vaccinated individuals, till 11:59pm.

Weddings and events

The ease in lockdown restrictions has also allowed citizens to organise indoor wedding functions and ceremonies with a maximum capacity of 200 guests, who all must be vaccinated individuals.

For outdoor events, a maximum capacity of 400 vaccinated guests is allowed.

Offices and transport

All the public and private offices and establishments across the province have been allowed to resume working normally with 100% attendance, while the railways and public transport’s maximum occupancy level has been reduced from 70% to 50%.

Other activities

Cinemas, sports activities, and indoor gatherings for cultural, religious and miscellaneous events will be completely banned despite the ease in lockdown restrictions in the province.

However, shrines, gyms, and recreation activity spots will remain open and function normally. For shrines, only vaccinated individuals above the age of 30-years will be allowed entrance, and in the case of recreation activities, only 50% of capacity is allowed.

For gyms, the only condition is that vaccinated individuals will be allowed entry.

All the services and activities under the notification will be subjected to the strict implementation of COVID-19 Standard Operating Procedures.

The Punjab government had imposed a lockdown in Lahore, Multan, Rawalpindi and FaisalabadonAugust 3, which was to remain in effect till August 31.

The decision to reimpose restrictions at the time was taken by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) after reviewing the worsening situation of the pandemic in the country.