Islamabad: In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the district administration of Rawalpindi has directed all hotels, motels, restaurants and shopping malls to remain closed indefinitely.
A notification issued by the Deputy Commissioner of Rawalpindi on Wednesday says: “In the wake of coronavirus emergency all the hotels, motels, restaurants, rest houses and tourist spots in Tehsil Murree District Rawalpindi will be closed forthwith till further orders in public interest.”
With its ancient buildings from colonial times, cool weather and greenery, Murree is popular among tourists not only from the Punjab but also across the country. Murree received 9.1 million visitors in 2018 mostly in the tourist season that starts from early January and ends in mid-October.
After the Pakistan government announced holidays in schools and colleges until April 5 as precautionary measure against coronavirus spread, the city has registered significant increase in number of tourists prompting the district and the local governments to take emergency measures.
A number of teams have been constituted comprising personnel of police and district administrations to intercept motorists coming to the city at all the entrance points and see if they were residents of the city, passers-by or tourists. In the latter two cases, they will not be allowed to enter Murree, said a senior police official of Murree.
Not only Murree but in Islamabad too, the district government has imposed a ban on gathering of more than ten persons. In a tweet, DC of Islamabad Hamza Shafqaat posted “No gathering of more than 10 people is allowed in the name of functions/weddings etc even at farm houses or private homes. The policy of social distancing has to be implemented in letter and spirit.”
Masks distributed
The strategy of “social distancing’ however doesn’t apply to Panah Garh (shelter houses) set up by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government for the hungry.
The poor and the hungry are not only being fed at these shelter houses but certain measures are also being taken to keep them safe from spread of coronavirus.
The Deputy Commissioner of Islamabad giving title to his tweet as “Love in the time of Corona” posted in the following words: “We are not closing our shelter homes as these people have no place to go. We are taking precautionary measures and providing masks, sanitisers etc to protect them from virus. Everyone is requested to come and distribute protective equipment here.”
