LAHORE: Health Minister Punjab Dr. Yasmin Rashid has warned against immediate closure of educational institutes if pandemic-related standard operating procedures (SOPs) are not followed strictly.
The warning from the minister came just a day after reopening of educational institutes in the province.
Dr. Rashid said the rate of coronavirus spread is the highest in Lahore compared to other cities in Punjab.
It must be noted that classes for students of grades 9 to 12 started across the country on this Monday after a break of nearly two months.
The decision of reopening of academic institutions was taken during a high-level meeting at the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) to review the decision to reopen educational institutions amid the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic on January 16.
Coronavirus cases in Pakistan
Pakistan on Tuesday reported 58 deaths in the last 24 hours due to COVID-19 making the nationwide tally of fatalities 11,055. Besides, with 1,800 new infections during the last 24 hours, the number of positive cases has also surged to 523,011.
According to the latest figures by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) Sindh remains the worst-hit province by the pandemic in terms of cases (236,530), followed by Punjab (150,316), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (63,825) and Balochistan (18,622).
Islamabad, however, has surpassed even Balochistan in a number of infections (40,677).
