Traders vow to operate until Chand Raat countrywide

Ag APP

ISLAMABAD: The All Pakistan Traders Association (APTA) Friday announced that it would continue to carry out all commercial activities countrywide except Sindh until chand raat.

According to the APTA President Ajmal Baloch, all markets and businesses will operate across the country, including Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir.

"We should be allowed to operate businesses 24 hours as the Saudi government did," said Baloch, adding if the government did not have the means to provide relief to the business community, then it should not tell them to shut down their businesses.

Two days ago, the Punjab government had announced that a full lockdown would be imposed across the province throughout the Eid holidays (May 8 to May 16) to curb the rising number of coronavirus infections.

The Sindh government also announced a new set of restrictions as part of the national “Stay Home- Stay Safe” drive to curb coronavirus during the Eid holidays.

In a notification issued by the Sindh Home Department, the provincial government stated that the new restrictions will remain in place from May 9 to 16.

According to a notification issued in this regard, all markets, businesses and shops will remain closed during the period except essential services.

Special Eid bazaars/'Chand-Raat Bazars' mehndi, jewellery/ornaments shops shall remain closed during the period being non-essential.

Meanwhile, the COVID-19 claimed another 140 lives taking the death toll to 18,677 in 24 hours. The tally of active cases reached 83,699 with 4,298 more people testing positive and 4,631 recovering in 24 hours.

Of the 140 people who died on Thursday, 124 were under treatment in hospitals, according to the latest update issued by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC).

Most of these deaths occurred in the Punjab followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The maximum number of ventilators were occupied in Lahore (64%), Multan (65%), Gujranwala (69%) and Islamabad Capital Territory (45%) while the maximum number of oxygen beds were occupied in Gujranwala (58%), Swabi (67%), Peshawar (64%) and Multan (59%).

Around 653 ventilators were occupied elsewhere in the country, while no affected person was on ventilator in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Gilgit Baltistan (GB) and Balochistan.

Around 44,846 tests were conducted across the country on Thursday, including 13,821 in Sindh, 17,599 in Punjab, 7,486 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 3,836 in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), 1,192 in Balochistan, 308 in GB and 604 in AJK.

Around 747,755 people have recovered so far across Pakistan.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, a total of 850,131 cases have been detected including the perished, recovered and under treatment patients so far — 17,660 in AJK, 23,016 in Balochistan, 5,358 in GB, 77,414 in ICT, 122,520 in KP, 314,517 in Punjab and 289,646 in Sindh.

Around 18,677 deaths have occurred in the country since the eruption of the contagion.

Around 4,698 people have perished in Sindh (7 in last 24 hours), 8,891 in Punjab (82 in last 24 hours), 3,537 in KP (40 in last 24 hours), 702 in ICT (3 in last 24 hours), 243 in Balochistan (3 in last 24 hours), 107 in GB and 499 in AJK (5 in last 24 hours). A total of 12,101,832 coronavirus tests have been conducted so far in Pakistan.