Punjab Information Minister Fayyaz Chohan Saturday said Punjab will witness a complete lockdown on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays while restrictions will be relaxed in three other working days of the week, when all shops and markets will remain open with proper implementation of all the SOPs.
“Big plazas and shopping centres will, however, remain closed for seven days,” he told media here. Responding to the hue and cry of the business community, Chohan said the notification regarding decisions taken by the province regarding the lockdown will be issued shortly.
Maintaining that Chief Minister Usman Buzdar stands by the affectees of coronavirus, he said that the government of Punjab launched relief packages for the frontline workers before any other provincial government. “In acknowledgment of the services of media workers, the government has decided to allocate Rs 100,000 for any media worker who contracts coronavirus in the line of duty,” the provincial minister said, adding that in case the worker succumbs to the virus, Rs 1 million will be given to the affectee’s family along with a monthly pension of Rs 10,000 for life.
Meanwhile, Adviser to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister on Information Ajmal Wazir said on Saturday that shops will open four days a week and all businesses will be closed at 4 pm. Addressing a press conference, he said all shops will remain closed on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, and businesses will close by 4pm. “It will be the responsibility of the traders to implement SOPs issued for opening of shops in the province,” he said, adding that the government will further ease lockdown if people cooperate with them by adopting safety measures.
Earlier in the day, Minister for Health Taimur Jhagra said that while the country’s death rate is stable at the moment, the number of coronavirus cases will continue to rise. He said the government is trying its best to ease the lockdown while containing the risk of virus spread.
Meanwhile, Sindh Minister for Information Nasir Hussain Shah has said that in accordance with the decisions of the National Coordination Committee, all the business activities which had been decided to be opened will resume in the province from Monday (tomorrow).
The provincial minister said all these business activities will be allowed to operate under specific guidelines and the standard operating procedures. “The businessmen who won’t fully comply with the guidelines or the SOPs will not be allowed to do business,” he said, adding that until the coronavirus is completely eradicated from the country or its vaccine is developed, people can neither adopt a normal lifestyle nor can do businesses in the way they had been used to in the past. “If we are not careful, the situation will get worse,” he said. “Because on the one hand, the cure has not yet been discovered anywhere, and on the other hand, it spreads very fast from one person to another, so the only way to prevent the spread of coronavirus, and to keep ourselves safe from it, is to be careful and not to leave our homes unnecessarily,” he added.
The minister said although the National Coordination Committee has yet not given permission to open big markets, shopping malls and large department stores, the Sindh government will consult with the federal government and the provinces in this regard. He said the Sindh government is bound by the decision of the apex court, in which the Supreme Court had asked all the provinces and the federation to adopt a uniform policy to curb the spread of coronavirus. He said Sindh ministers met with the business leaders and shared their problems. He said the leaders of the business community have been assured that the businesses which have been allowed to open by the National Coordination Committee will resume from Monday. He said the federal government will also be informed about the problems of the business community. He said as far as the Sindh government is concerned, it will solve the problems of the traders and the businessmen on a priority basis.
