The administration of Rawalpindi has decided to put another eight, densely populated areas of the district under smart lockdown from June 30 as the number of novel coronavirus (Covid-19) cases rose to 5,722.
A notification issued by the Rawalpindi district administration on Sunday said that eight places in the city will be placed under the ‘smart lockdown’ for 10 days.
Among the areas to be sealed include Bara Market and Nankari Bazaar.
Moreover, 30 of the 57 streets of the suburban Rukh Takht Pari area and 27 streets of Morgah will be sealed off.
Other areas which will be sealed include 18 streets of Gulzar-e-Quaid, 11 streets off Khayban-e-Sir Syed, 10 streets of Dhoke Ali Akbar, and 14 streets of Kota Kalan.
Rawalpindi Deputy Commissioner (DC) Captain (retired) Anwarul Haq said that the smart lockdown is being imposed in these areas to stem the spread of Covid-19. As part of the lockdown, he said that the movement of locals will be restricted while businesses – except those which deal in essential commodities – will be closed.
He added that some 22 areas of the garrison city are already under the smart lockdown which is expected to remain in effect until 9pm on June 30.
Rapid rise in cases
Meanwhile, the Covid-19 cases in Rawalpindi continue to rise. The district health authorities said that they recorded 64 new cases in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of cases in the city to 5,722 while there have been 288 associated deaths. A total of 2,955 patients in the hospitals and quarantine centres of the city have recovered from the virus.
Of the cases, they said that 5,110 cases are of local circulation. Moreover, of those who died, 243 were from Rawalpindi, while the remaining 45 were from other areas of the country.
In the past 24 hours, some 115 Coivd-19 patients had recovered from the virus.
A breakdown of the cases showed that Rawal Town was the most affected area of the city with 2,285. It was followed by the cantonment areas with 1,129 Covid-19 positive cases. The third-most affected area was Potohar Town with 1,042 cases. Taxila Tehsil had 236 cases, Gujjar Khan Tehsil had 232 cases, while Kahuta had 63 cases, Kotli Sayedan had 60 cases, Kallar Sayedan had 33 cases and Murree had 30 cases.
