Punjab Assembly Speaker Pervaiz Elahi has urged the government to close educational institutions and private academies in the wake of soaring coronavirus cases in the province.
Chairing a meeting of the Finance Committee of the Punjab Assembly, the former chief minister said that it was imperative for the safety of the children that educational institutions remained closed amid the third wave of the deadly virus.
Last week, Education Minister Murad Raas had said that the students of grades 9, 10, 11, and 12 will resume in-school classes twice a week in public and private schools across 13 districts of Punjab from Monday.
He had added that COVID-19 standard operating procedures will be followed as students will be able to “spread over the whole school” because of the availability of empty 1-8 classrooms.
Meanwhile, Punjab’s coronavirus death toll has reached 7,664 after the province reported 103 more deaths due to COVID-19 in the past 24 hours.
As many as 2,969 new infections were reported during the same period, taking the total number of confirmed cases in the province to 276,535.
Lahore, the provincial capital, is the worst affected city in the province. It reported 1,454 infections in the past 24 hours. Rawalpindi reported 292 cases, Faisalabad 244, Multan 173, Sargodha 145, and Bahawalpur 117.
