ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), the federal pandemic response body, on Tuesday eased COVID-19 restrictions for cities where the coronavirus positivity rate is below 10 percent.

The new guidelines come as the country recorded the lowest daily coronavirus cases in more than a month at 2,597, official figures said, and the national positivity rate dropped to 5.40 percent.

The South Asian nation has been battling an omicron-driven fifth wave of virus infections. However, the number of cases has been on the decline.

“Detailed stock of disease situation and currently enforced NPIs (non-pharmaceutical interventions) was carried out at NCOC,” the body said in a statement. “In view of improved disease trends, NPIs are being eased out for cities with less than 10 percent positivity except following cities where positivity is still over 10 percent (3 x days rolling average).”

Curbs will remain in place in Gilgit, Muzaffarabad, Mardan, Karachi, Hyderabad and Peshawar. Indoor gyms, cinemas, shrines and amusement parks will be allowed to operate at 50 percent capacity for fully vaccinated individuals.

The NCOC said vaccination of at least one dose was mandatory for students above 12 years of age, adding that “no exception other than medical reasons will be entertained.”

“Aggressive sentinel testing in educational institutes will be carried out for targeted closures in high disease prevalence education institutes,” NCOC said. “Federating units in consultation with health authorities will set a number / percentage for closure of education institutes.”

The forum said a ban on inflight meal and beverages services for domestic travel would continue.

On Monday, the NCOC announced that over 200 million coronavirus vaccine doses had been administered in the country since a national inoculation drive kicked off a year ago.

Pakistan, with a population of 220 million, rolled out its vaccine campaign in February 2021, prioritizing health care workers and the elderly. It has since expanded its campaign to include the entire eligible population.

Over 92 million Pakistanis are fully vaccinated and over 119 million have received a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Last month, Pakistan reported over 7,000 COVID-19 cases in a single day, its highest daily number of infections since the pandemic began, with the South Asian nation imposing new restrictions to curb the fast-spreading omicron variant.

After a sluggish start to the inoculation campaign, a new requirement last year for vaccination certificates to attend schools and offices and use public transport and take flights led to a rush of people seeking shots.