Lahore: The Punjab government on Wednesday issued a notification to implement the new restrictions in schools in Lahore as per the guidelines laid down by the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC).
The NCOC had earlier said that cities with a positivity ratio of more than 10% would be banned afresh.
Punjab Education Minister Murad Ras announced that new restrictions would be imposed in all private and public schools in the metropolis.
"In all public and private schools, classes up to class 6 (50% students each day) will start tomorrow from January 20 to January 31, 2022," the minister tweeted.
He said that classes 7 to 12 will remain on the previous schedule and urged everyone to follow the COVID SOPs.
According to the latest NCOC data, Lahore is one of the seven major cities with high disease prevalence. The city recorded a positivity ratio of 15.15% today.
New COVID-19 Restrictions
The NCOC has decided that classes for students below 12 years of age will continue in a "staggered" manner in the affected cities.
Classes will be conducted daily for fully vaccinated students above 12 years of age.
In the new SOP, the NCOC said that union units, in consultation with health authorities, will determine the number of cases or infection rates as a benchmark through which they will decide to close schools.
The NCOC guidelines state that from February 1, at least one dose will be mandatory for students above 12 years of age across Pakistan and no exemption will be considered except for medical reasons.
"Aggressive sentinel testing will be conducted in educational institutions for targeted closure of higher disease transmission education institutions," the NCOC said.