Sharmila Faruqi backs Punjab’s Murad Raas on closure of schools

KARACHI: PPP leader and a member of the Sindh Assembly, Sharmila Faruqi, on Friday endorsed the stance of Education Minister Punjab Murad Raas about the closure of schools in the country due to a surge in COVID-19 cases.

“For a change I totally agree to this one… shut all salons, restaurants, gyms, malls and marriage halls before shutting down schools…,” she wrote on Twitter in response to Raas’ post on the matter.

The Punjab minister on Thursday said that schools should be the "absolute last in line to close" amid calls for urgent steps to curb the virus spread.

Raas shared his opinion on the matter after an important meeting of education ministers was postponed due to unexplained reasons.

“For all the inquirers whether schools are closing or NOT? In my opinion, every other activity specially social activity has to be stopped before schools. Schools should be the absolute last in line to close,” he tweeted.

“The learning losses of our children in the past 2 years - Unimaginable,” he added.

Pakistan records over 3,500 cases

The country reported 3,567 new cases — the highest since September 10, 2021 — in the last 24 hours, data by the National Command and Operation Centre showed Friday morning.

The NCOC said 48,449 tests were conducted across the country, and 3,567 infections emerged, taking the positivity ratio to 7.36%. The country last reported an infection rate of 6.64% on August 31, 2021.

With the new infections, the overall tally has risen to 1.315 million, while seven more deaths have taken the death toll to 28,999.