Smart lockdown in Peshawar extended to 9 places

PESHAWAR: Nine localities in the provincial capital have been placed under smart lockdown after entry to two more places was restricted on Wednesday to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

According to a notification issued by the district administration on Wednesday, the two new localities placed under specific lockdown are Gulbahar No 4 and it’s vicinity as well as Kohi village in Hassankhel sub-division in south of Peshawar. Gulbahar is a crowded locality of Peshawar city it was locked down after more confirmed cases of Covid-19 were reported from there. Kohi is a village in rural area and was part of the erstwhile Frontier Region. The authorities have recently introduced the idea of smart lockdown by restricting general entry to specific areas. The business activities as well as gatherings in these areas remained closed since lockdown was implemented there. Only shops of medicines and essential food items are allowed to open in these areas.

Heavy police contingents have been deployed in these localities to stop the entry of general public. The cops perform duty round-the-clock in shifts to ensure the lockdown. In Peshawar, controlled entry and exit was ordered first in the University Road and University Town areas as well as in vicinity of Danishabad, Sector E-2 and parts of Phase-1 in Hayatabad as well as areas on Charsadda Road, Afghan Colony and Eidgah on Monday following reports of spread of coronavirus in these parts of Peshawar. On Tuesday, the areas around Shinwari Town on Ring Road, Asiya Union Council and Circular Road and F-3 in Phase 6 Hayatabad were also restricted for entry to prevent the spread of the virus. Apart from Peshawar, parts of other cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have also been placed under the lockdown following an increase in cases of Covid-19 and death of a growing number of people due to the virus. Peshawar is at the top in the province in terms of deaths followed by Swat, Mardan, Abbottabad, Malakand and Kohat due to Covid-19 in the last couple of months.