The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Sunday decided to ban wedding ceremonies from April 5 onwards in cities and districts where the positivity rate is above 8 per cent, as part of new restrictions to contain the third wave of the novel coronavirus in Pakistan.
Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar chaired the session which was attended by the chief secretaries of all four provinces via video link. In the meeting, the NCOC decided the ban would extend to both indoor and outdoor weddings, however, “provinces will be at liberty to implement restrictions in [an] early time frame as per the situation on ground”.
Meanwhile, in a televised message, Prime Minister Imran Khan strongly urged the public to follow Covid-19 SOPs and the necessary precautions, cautioning that the third wave of the virus in Pakistan was “more intense” than the first two waves.
The new set of restrictions comes as Pakistan finds itself in the grips of a third coronavirus wave. Pakistan recorded more than 4,000 cases for a third straight day on Sunday with 4,767 new coronavirus cases and 57 deaths in the last 24 hours. This marks the highest single-day increase since June 21, 2020, according to data collected by Dawn.com, when 4,916 cases were reported.