LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Sardar Usman Buzdar on Wednesday said that tandoors, milk and yoghurt shops will remain open while restaurants are to remain closed during Ramzan.
This was decided in a video link meeting of cabinet committee for the eradication of coronavirus which met on Wednesday at CM Office with CM Usman Buzdar in the chair.
The chief minister emphasised that practice of doing business with shutters down will not be allowed and the shop will be issued a challan and sealed under the anti-corona ordinance in case of violation.
He said implementation of 20 points safety strategy will be ensured for performing namaz-e-taraweeh and five prayers during Ramzan and legal action will be initiated against the industry in case of SOPs violation. 216 localities have, so far, been locked down in Punjab.
On the other hand, CM Usman Buzdar approved the establishment of four additional diagnostic labs for coronavirus in the province.
In the first phase, labs will be set up in Sialkot and Sargodha while the facility will be provided in Rahim Yar Khan and Gujrat in the next phase.
While directing the Health Department to speed up its work, the CM told that up-gradation of labs in The Institute of Public Health and TB Control Programme has been completed and this facility is also provided to Allied Hospital Faisalabad, Nishtar Hospital Multan and THQ Hospital Wazirabad.
The participants of the meeting were briefed about the smart lockdown and phase-wise opening of industrial units during the holy month.
“In the meantime, the daily diagnostics testing capacity of Punjab has reached to 4,500 and new labs in Bahawalpur, DG Khan and Rawalpindi will be made functional in the next few days,” he said, adding that during the last 24 hours, 2,247 persons have tested while more than 64,000 citizens have undergone coronavirus tests in Punjab to date.
“The total number of coronavirus patients in Punjab is 4,431,” he said.
