Colleges in Pakistan's Punjab to reopen despite surge in COVID-19 cases

Amid the surge in COVID-19 infection, the Pakistan's Punjab Higher Education Department (HED) has issued a notification for reopening of all private and government colleges across the province from Monday.

HED Secretary Nadeem Mehboob said in a statement on Saturday that all private and public colleges will be re-opened across the province except in Khanewal and Rahim Yar Khan (RYK) as both districts have a high coronavirus positivity ratio, reported The Express Tribune.

The authorities have directed all teachers and other staff members to get coronavirus vaccine by June 5.

At least 602 new coronavirus cases were recorded in Punjab during the past 24 hours, taking the provincial tally to 338,377. However, at least 35 more patients succumbed to coronavirus in the province as the total death count reached 9,960, reported The Express Tribune.

It further reported that earlier Punjab Education Minister Murad Raas had announced the reopening of colleges from June 7.

Moreover, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government has also announced plans to reopen schools in five more districts of the province from May 31.

National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) also announced that exams for grades 10 and 12 will be conducted from June 23 to July 29 in the country while the provinces can decide to resume physical classes for matric and intermediate students, The Express Tribune reported.

The decision was taken in a NCOC meeting chaired by Federal Minister for Planning Asad Umar and National Coordinator Lt Gen Hamooduz Zaman on Saturday.

At least 73 more people have succumbed to coronavirus in Pakistan, taking the nationwide COVID-19 death toll to 20,680, while over 2,455 new infections have been reported, pushing the tally to 916,239.

( With inputs from ANI )