Virus restrictions to remain till 14th.

ISLAMABAD -- The National Coordination Committee (NCC) on Covid-19 on Wednesday decided to extend the restrictions imposed to stem the viral outbreak in the country for two more weeks - from April 1 to April 14 - as the nationwide tally of coronavirus infections surged past 2,100 with 29 deaths.

Separately, army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa said the armed forces would stand 'shoulder to shoulder with the nation to guard the border between the people and Covid-19'.

Briefing reporters about the NCC meeting, Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar said the federation, the four provinces, Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) had uniformly decided that the existing restrictions would remain in place until April 14, unless decided otherwise.

'The restrictions have played an effective role and a decrease has been seen in the number of cases. If they were not imposed, we might have seen a lot more cases,' he added. 'We don't feel that there's a need for more restrictions as the current measures are working.'

Prime Minister Imran Khan chaired the sixth meeting of the NCC, which reviewed progress in controlling the spread of the disease and discussed strategies to minimise its impact.

Umar, who is the focal person for the national effort against Covid-19, said earlier the federating units had their own restrictions in place and different dates were announced but after the NCC meeting on Wednesday, all the provinces, G-B and AJK were on the same page on extending the restrictions for two weeks.

He said keeping industries related to food, medicine and power operational was crucial because the restrictions would bear fruit only if basic necessities were continuously provided to the people.

The minister said it had been decided that there would be no restrictions on the transportation of goods.

'All units have assured that they would implement the [NCC's] decision to allow the movement of goods transport,' he added, hinting that the disagreement between the Centre and Sindh government over the issue had been sorted out.

'You might have seen that our coordination is getting better with the passage of time.'

Sharing another decision made during the NCC meeting, Umar said the chief secretaries of all units would participate through video conferring in regular early morning meetings of the National Command Centre to enhance the operational coordination.

The NCC, he added, had also decided that stranded overseas Pakistanis would be...