ISLAMABAD, JAN 18 (DNA) — Pertaining to the rising COVID-19’s Omicron cases across the country, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) has proposed to open the educational institutes three days a week.

The second important meeting of the NCOC was held in which the situation of educational institutions was also reviewed while various proposals regarding new restrictions were considered in the meeting. Moreover, it was discussed in the meeting that a proposal to make schools online for seven days in Islamabad was also considered.

According to sources, the NCOC meeting was briefed on the ongoing testing in educational institutions. It was decided to seal the educational institutions which did not implement the SOPs while emphasis was laid on measures for compulsory vaccination of students and teachers in the educational institutions.

Earlier today, Pakistan reported 10 deaths in the last 24 hours by novel coronavirus as the number of positive cases has surged to 1,333,521. The nationwide tally of fatalities has jumped to 29,029. According to the latest figures by the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) 5,034 persons tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 24 hours.

Punjab remains the worst-hit province in terms of deaths followed by Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Till now 13,091 individuals have lost their lives to the epidemic in Punjab, 7,703 in Sindh 5,963 in KP, 969 in Islamabad, 749 in Azad Kashmir, 367 in Balochistan, and 187 in GB.

Furthermore 505,930 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Sindh, 454,372 in Punjab 182,419 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 111,855 in Islamabad, 34,770 in Azad Kashmir 33,729 in Balochistan and 10,446 in Gilgit-Baltistan.