LAHORE: The Punjab government has set up quarantine centers in different cities of the province to isolate suspected coronavirus patients in areas under its jurisdiction, said a spokesperson of the provincial authority on Wednesday, adding that the one established in Multan is the biggest in the country.
“The government has set up quarantine centers in Multan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Lahore, Muzaffargarh, Rawalpindi, Bahawalpur and other cities of the province,” Sabir Bokhari, a spokesperson of the provincial administration, told Arab News. “The biggest center has been set up in Multan where 6,000 people can be kept at one time. The staff at these facilities have also been given special kits and medical equipment to deal with different emergencies.”
The provincial administration has also set up a quarantine center at Dera Ghazi Khan that can host 780 patients while another center in Bahawalpur will be able to accommodate 1,276 pilgrims coming from the Taftan border.
The centers have been set up to save citizens from the spread of coronavirus in the country. The outbreak that began in a small Chinese town of Wuhan was recently declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization due to the rising number of infections across the world.
In Punjab, the authorities declared 26 confirmed cases of coronavirus until Wednesday afternoon.
“There are 26 confirmed patients of coronavirus in the province. Out of these, 20 are pilgrims [who returned from Iran], five are from Lahore and another one is from Gujrat. Thirty-nine suspected patients are in isolation at the moment,” reads the latest bulletin by the Department of Primary and Secondary Healthcare.
The province’s apex committee on coronavirus met in Lahore on Wednesday under Chief Minister Usman Buzdar. Among others, the meeting was also attended by Corps Commander Lahore, Lt. Gen. Majid Ehsan, General Officer Commanding 10-Division, Maj. Gen. Muhammad Aneeq-ur-Rehman Malik, DG Rangers Punjab, Maj. Gen. Muhammad Amir Majeed, Law Minister Raja Basharat and Health Minister Dr Yasmeen Rashid.
“During the meeting, the chief minister said the quarantine centers had been set up in southern Punjab and that his administration was doing its best to defeat the virus. The corps commander said that the military establishment was extending its full cooperation to the government since it was a national cause to overcome the disease,” Muhammad Rafiullah, the chief minister’s public relations officer, told Arab News. “The establishment of a quarantine center at Taftan was also considered during the meeting while another proposal to convert the Hajj terminal in Lahore into a temporary isolation unit was also reviewed.”
Fearing increase in number of suspected coronavirus cases in Lahore, the authorities recently visited the campuses of Engineering University and GC University at Kala Shah Kaku, some 19 kilometers west of Lahore, and declared them fit for setting up quarantine camps.
“The commissioner and deputy commissioner have visited the sites. These education facilities can be converted into quarantine centers, if required. Arrangements are complete to meet any urgency or emergency arising from the threat of coronavirus,” Imran Maqbool, spokesperson at the DC office in Lahore, told Arab News.
Punjab sets up biggest quarantine center in Pakistan to fight coronavirus
https://arab.news/8q37p
Punjab sets up biggest quarantine center in Pakistan to fight coronavirus
- Provincial administration officials say the facility in Multan can accommodate 6,000 patients at once
- The country's military establishment is fully cooperating with the civilian administration to defeat the pandemic, says Corpse Commander Lahore
From classrooms to screens: Pakistan schools go online amid Middle East war-driven oil crisis
- Government orders school closures, remote work and fuel cuts to conserve energy
- Measures follow oil price surge linked to US-Israeli strikes on Iran and regional tensions
RAWALPINDI: Some schools in Pakistan shifted to online learning this week as authorities introduced emergency fuel-saving measures after global oil prices surged due to the escalating conflict involving the United States, Israel and Iran.
The government has ordered a series of austerity steps aimed at reducing fuel consumption, including temporary school closures, remote work arrangements for a portion of government and private sector employees, and sharp cuts in fuel allocations for official vehicles. The measures were introduced after international oil prices jumped amid fears the widening Middle East conflict could disrupt supplies passing through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global energy shipping route, raising costs for import-dependent economies such as Pakistan.
Parents in cities including Rawalpindi said many educational institutions had already informed families through social media that classes would be conducted online while campuses remained closed.
“Hopefully, all the schools will remain closed today because many of the institutions have already shared the message on social media that we will be taking classes online for the students,” said Misam Abbas, a 30-year-old father of schoolchildren.
Pakistan’s education system is still recovering from severe disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic, when schools across the country remained closed for extended periods and millions of students shifted to remote learning.
The closures lasted around 10.5 months in some areas, affecting nearly 40 million school-age children, while limited Internet access and digital devices meant many students could not fully participate in online classes. Education experts say the prolonged shutdowns caused significant learning losses and pushed some children permanently out of the school system. 
Even after the pandemic, schooling in Pakistan has faced repeated interruptions due to environmental and health emergencies. In recent years, dense winter smog, extreme heatwaves and cold spells have frequently forced authorities to suspend classes, sometimes for 10 to 12 days at a time, shortening the academic year and disrupting teaching schedules.
Analysts warn that repeated closures and the shift to online learning, often difficult for students without reliable Internet access, continue to strain an already fragile education system. 
For many families, the sudden switch to remote learning has also raised concerns about prolonged disruptions to education if the austerity measures remain in place.
“They [the government] should not close [schools] for a long time because it suffers a lot. The students… should think that they are to close the school for two to three days, not for all the weeks, not for two to three weeks because that can suffer the studies of these small kids,” Abbas said.
Pakistan imports most of its crude oil and refined petroleum products, making domestic energy costs highly sensitive to global price swings during geopolitical crises.
“Our situation should not be affected by the world’s situation. The world is already in a bad situation. But in our country, we should have some good system so that people cannot be affected by those circumstances,” Abbas said.
