ISLAMABAD: The government on Tuesday decided to reopen education institutes across the country from September 16 after the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), which oversees Pakistan’s pandemic response, reviewed the COVID-19 situation in a meeting, said an official notification.
Earlier this month, the NCOC announced strict restrictions for 24 districts where the coronavirus positivity ratio was considered alarmingly high.
Its members not only reduced the number of these districts to five during the recent meeting but also relaxed some of the restrictions previously imposed in these vulnerable areas.
“All types of education institutes countrywide will follow staggered opening (50 percent attendance, 3 x days a week) from 16th September, 21, onwards,” the notification said.
The decision was made after a “detailed stock of the disease situation in the country, daily hospital admissions and critical care occupancy vis-a-vis requirement of oxygen was carried out.”
The NCOC named Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan, Sargodha and Gujrat in Punjab and Bannu in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as high disease prevalence districts.
According to the notification, market and business activities will only be allowed in these five districts until 8pm, though they will be permitted until 10pm in other parts of the country.
Traders in the vulnerable districts will also be required to shut down their shops on Friday and Saturday, instead of one day a week elsewhere.
The NCOC has continued to maintain strict restrictions on indoor dining, weddings and other gatherings in the five districts.
All religious shrines will also continue to remain closed in these cities.
Pakistan recorded 2,580 new coronavirus cases and 78 deaths in the last 24 hours.
The country began its immunization campaign in last February and has so far fully vaccinated about 21.96 million people.
Pakistan relaxes virus restrictions, to reopen schools from September 16
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Pakistan relaxes virus restrictions, to reopen schools from September 16
- The decision was taken after reviewing the COVID-19 situation in the country, including hospital admissions and oxygen requirement
- The National Command and Operations Center also reduced the number of high disease prevalence districts from 24 to five
Pakistan arrests suspect arriving from Cambodia amid crackdown on human smuggling
- Suspect worked at an “online fraud company” in Cambodia, later started smuggling people from Pakistan, says FIA
- Pakistan has intensified crackdown against human smugglers after hundreds of migrants drowned near Pylos in 2023
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Sunday said it had arrested a key suspect involved in smuggling humans who had arrived from Cambodia, alleging he was also part of an international fraud network.
The suspect, identified as Zainullah, was arrested by FIA officials when he arrived in the southern port city of Karachi from Cambodia.
Zainullah had traveled from Pakistan to Cambodia in September 2024, a press release issued by the agency said.
“He worked at an online fraud company in Cambodia and later became involved as an agent in recruiting individuals from Pakistan,” the FIA said.
The FIA said it recovered images of multiple individuals’ passports, payment receipts and bank transaction records after extracting data from Zainullah’s phone.
It said the suspect received money through personal bank accounts and a cryptocurrency account.
“The suspect has been handed over to the FIA Anti-Human Trafficking Circle, Karachi, for further legal proceedings,” the FIA said.
“Further investigation is underway.”
Pakistan intensified action against illegal migration in 2023 after hundreds of migrants, including 262 Pakistanis, drowned when an overcrowded vessel sank off the Greek town of Pylos, one of the deadliest boat disasters in the Mediterranean.
Authorities say they continue to target networks sending citizens abroad through dangerous routes, following heightened scrutiny at airports and a series of arrests involving forged documents.
Pakistan’s interior ministry said this week illegal migration to Europe has declined by 47 percent this year after its nationwide crackdown, saying that more than 1,700 human smugglers have been arrested in 2025.
