Are schools closing again?
September 13, 2021
The National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) on Monday clarified that schools and other educational institutions will not be closed again in Punjab.
"Education institutions in selected districts of Punjab, KP, and ICT are closed till 15th Sep," the forum, which heads the country's coronavirus battle, said in a tweet.
The NCOC stated that the decision to review the imposed restrictions would be communicated through official channels — implying that people should not pay heed to social media reports.
Earlier this month, the NCOC had decided to extend special non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) till September 15 that were enforced till September 12 in 24 high disease-risk districts of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), and Islamabad.
The NCOC, during its daily session, had carried out a review of special NPIs enforced in 24 high disease-prevalence districts.
The decision to continue the restrictions was taken amid significant pressure on critical care, hospital admissions, and oxygen requirements.
As per the special NPIs, there was a complete ban on all sorts of indoor and outdoor gatherings, all types of indoor gyms, intercity public transport, and the educational sector till September 15, the Forum decided.
However, a review would be carried out on 15th September, the NCOC said.
It added that NPIs for the remaining sectors would remain enforced as already communicated earlier.
"All federating units are requested to institute a robust mechanism for implementation of special NPIs and share details with NCOC accordingly," the forum directed all federating units including that of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit Baltistan (GB).
The forum also underlined that close monitoring of disease prevalence and critical health care system was being carried out on a daily basis and necessary decisions would be taken whenever deemed appropriate to control the disease spread.
The NCOC directed that all concerned were requested to issue notifications at priority and dissemination to all concerned pertaining to the decisions made in its session here held.
