IHC to only hold important hearings till May 16 amid third wave of COVID-19

As the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic grips the country, the Islamabad High Court has announced that it will only hold important hearings till May 16.

A notification issued by the IHC registrar, on the instructions of IHC Chief Justic Athar Minallah, said that the court will hear bail pleas, stay orders and urgent cases only.

The registrar also said that a date for the important cases will be determined by the IHC CJ.

NCOC decides to extend restrictions till April 13

Last week, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) said it was extending coronavirus restrictions announced earlier till April 13.

The decisions, according to the country's nerve centre on tackling coronavirus, was taken during a meeting of the NCOC chaired by Asad Umar.

Read more: NCOC decides to extend restrictions till April 13

The forum said an NCOC meeting will be held on April 12 (today) to review how the coronavirus SOPs and restrictions imposed by the government during the month of Ramadan will be implemented.

The NCOC had announced various restrictions across the country a few days earlier, as the third wave of the coronavirus intensified across the country with over 5,000 testing positive for the virus in a single day, multiple times in the past few weeks or so.

Curbs on business, public transport

In view of a surge in coronavirus cases in the country, the NCOC had issued renewed SOPs a few weeks ago, saying that these would be implemented with immediate effect.

As per the new guidelines, all businesses are only be allowed to operate five days a week, while all commercial activities will be closed by 8:00pm in areas with a positivity ratio greater than 8%.

The forum had expressed grave concern over the current COVID-19 situation in the country and unanimously agreed to implement some high impact interventions in cities and districts with a high positivity ratio.