ISLAMABAD: The Higher Education Commission has clarified that it had not announced the closure of universities, as government warns of a second COVID-19 wave in Pakistan.
On a social media website Twitter, the HEC said, “Attention Students!! HEC has not issued direction for the closure of universities.”
“The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has issued policy guidelines for all the universities to cope with the COVID-19 crisis,” the statement from the body read.
The statement said that every university is allowed to operate according to its situation. All HEC guidelines pertaining to COVID-19 are available here.
Attention Students!!
HEC has not issued direction for closure of universities pic.twitter.com/LI2dhQl81E
— HEC Pakistan (@hecpkofficial) October 26, 2020
The country’s educational institutions started a phase-wise reopening of educational institutions after nearly six months, with the universities and colleges allowed to reopen from September 15.
The number of coronavirus cases has been surging across the country as 707 new infections were reported in the past 24 hours.
According to the National Command and Control Centre which records COVID-19 statistics, the national tally of infections has reached 328,602. Three people succumbed to the deadly disease, taking the death toll to 6,739.
Around 26,492 tests were conducted across the country while 311,075 people have recovered from the disease so far across Pakistan, including 584 in the past 24 hours.
A total of 4,290,545 corona tests have been conducted so far, while 735 hospitals are equipped with COVID facilities. However, around 559 coronavirus patients admitted to hospitals across the country are said to be in critical condition.
The province of Sindh has reported 143,836 cases, Punjab 102,875, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 39,043, Balochistan 15,810, Islamabad 19,012, while Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan have reported 3,846 and 4,180 cases respectively.
The NCOC has already observed that the coronavirus situation in the country is worsening as all indicators have turned red.
The forum was briefed about the rising positivity ratio, increase in hospital admissions and the spike in the number of deaths. Karachi, Hyderabad, Muzaffarabad and Gilgit have higher positivity ratio along with other areas across the country.
Hospital admissions were also on the rise across the country particularly in Punjab, while there has been an increase in the number of critical patients in hospitals.
The country’s current case fertility rate has reached 2.06% while the global rate stood at 2.72%. It also noted that 71% of total deaths were of males out of which 76% were over the age of 50.
