Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: As 400 more people were found infected with Covid-19 on a single day, the district administration has decided to enforce a smart lockdown in 16 localities of the federal capital. Three people succumbed to the disease in Rawalpindi district whereas the positivity ratio was 8.9pc. The deceased were identified as Fakharun Nisa, 53, a resident of Gujar Khan, who …

RAWALPINDI: After the cancellation of land acquisition for Rawalpindi Ring Road project, the district administration has recovered Rs60 million from landowners and transferred the land back to them. Land worth Rs380 million had been acquired for the Ring Road project, however, following reports of corruption in the project, land acquisition was cancelled. A high-level inquiry revealed that changes were made …

ISLAMABAD: Amid doctors’ concerns about the impact of mix-and-match vaccines on public health, the Ministry of National Health Services (NHS) has decided to facilitate foreign travel of those who have been administered Chinese vaccine by charging them for the booster shot. The NHS ministry fixed charges of Rs1,270 per booster dose to make it available for the overseas Pakistanis who …

PESHAWAR: The health department has announced that 30 per cent of the targeted adult population in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been vaccinated against coronavirus and the vaccine jabs will be given to 10 million more people in the next two months. The announcement comes amid 18 more deaths from the infection and 571 new cases in the province. “We’ve vaccinated 7.3 …

ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam on Saturday said preparations were underway to establish the country’s first-ever Asian Leopard reserve in the Margalla Hills National Park. Spanning over 17,386 hectares and ranked as the third largest in the world, the scenic national park is home to rich biodiversity comprising around 600 plant species, …

BAHAWALNAGAR: Fixing responsibility for the Aug 19 security lapse which led to an attack on an Ashura procession in the city, police under the pressure of a provincial minister found a scapegoat to spare two officials who were actually answerable. The grenade attack had left two persons dead. An official announcement on Aug 20 from the office of Bahawalpur Regional …

ISLAMABAD: The capital administration and police are still in the dark about international transit passengers expected to arrive from Afghanistan in the next few days, sources told. Officers of the capital administration and police told on condition of anonymity that they had been asked to make arrangements for the accommodation and safety of international transit passengers who would start arriving …

KARACHI: In a major assertion indicating Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s political ambitions in Sindh, the federal government on Saturday expressed confidence that the current provincial set-up would be Pakistan Peoples Party’s last administration due to record corruption cases and bad governance in its three consecutive terms. The PTI is going to form the next Sindh government, said a key member of the …

ISLAMABAD: The opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has urged the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to issue a verdict on the presidential power of promulgating frequent ordinances since the matter could not be resolved politically in the parliament. While hearing the petition filed by PML-N lawmaker Mohsin Nawaz Ranjha against the issuance of frequent ordinances, IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah had …

The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Sunday decided to expand its stricter coronavirus-related standard operation procedures (SOPs) to 27 cities citing the pressure on healthcare system. On August 2, the NCOC had revised its SOPs for 13 cities namely Rawalpindi, Lahore, Faisalabad and Multan in Punjab; Peshawar and Abbottabad in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa; Karachi and Hyderabad in Sindh; Islamabad; Muzaffarabad and …