NCOC bans interprovincial road travel on weekends amid rising coronavirus cases

The National Command and Operations Centre, the body that is leading Pakistan's fight against coronavirus, on Sunday announced a ban on travelling by road between provinces over the weekends.

"It has been decided to ban interprovincial transport for two days a week (Saturday and Sunday) with effect from April 10, at 12 am, to April 25, 12:59am," said NCOC in a statement.

It notified certain exemptions to the new restrictions, given below:

•Goods, freight, medical and other emergency services will be exempted.

•Railway to continue to operate 7 days a week with 70% occupancy.

Additionally, the ban will be reviewed by NCOC on April 20.

More than 5,000 cases in the last 24 hours

The announcement comes as the country saw more than 5,000 coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours.

According to an NCOC update, 5,020 people tested Covid positive on April 3, whereas 81 lost their lives.

Punjab reported the most number of fatalities — 43 — followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which detected 23.

This takes the total number of infections to 687,908 cases and the death toll to 14,778.

Sindh suspends on-campus classes

In a parallel development, the Sindh government, that had been a strong proponent of banning inter-provincial transport for two weeks, has decided to suspend on-campus classes and other learning activities, for students of pre-nursery to class 8, beginning April 6.

The classes will remain suspended for 15 days, said Sindh Education Minister Saeed Ghani in a tweet.

He said children's education will continue through online classes, homework and other means during this period.