Govt mulls smart lockdown amid rise in COVID-19 cases.

ISLAMABAD -- Amid surge in coronavirus cases, the federal government is mulling options for relaxing the restrictions, and shifting to smart lockdowns in areas where coronavirus cases are being traced. Sources told Pakistan Today that the federal government is mulling proposals floated by the National Control and Operation Center (NCOC) of easing restrictions and shifting to smart lockdowns in areas with high number of infections.

The source said that a strategy would be finalized before May 9. The source said that the NCOC had been deliberating upon various proposals and it would soon come up with a practical solution to handle the situation while easing the restrictions.

'After deliberations, we have agreed that this pandemic may not go early and we may have to live with it. So we have to adopt long term policies to deal with it. We also have to ensure monitoring and NCOC may also become a permanent feature till the disease is over,' an official said.

'We are contemplating proposals of giving an end to lockdown. In this regard, we are mulling options of allowing selected staff in federal and provincial offices. But we believe that easing restrictions should be gradual. Moreover, we are also planning to allow three holidays a week instead of two and the public sector offices may be off from Friday to Sunday. Working days may be from Monday to Thursday under the proposal,' the official said.

The official...