Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has imposed a complete ban on inter-district public transport from March 23.

The decision was announced by KP Information Minister Ajmal Wazir while addressing a press conference here on Sunday.

Wazir said that the decision has been taken in the best interest of the people and as part of precautionary measures against the COVID-19.

He said that the provincial govt has decided to recruit 1,200 more doctors across the medical facilities in the province to help contain the coronavirus outbreak.

The KP information minister said that there are 31 coronavirus cases in the province and 4 people have died so far due to novel coronavirus.

“A woman who tested positive for the virus had passed away on Saturday,” confirmed Ajmal Wazir.

According to a notification issued by the K-P Relief, Rehabilitation and Settlement Department, all inter-district passenger public transport will stand suspended under Section 16(A)(1) of the National Disaster Management Authority (K-P) Act 2010 for seven days with effect from 9:00 am on March 23.

Earlier on Saturday, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government had announced partial lockdown in the province for three days from Sunday (tomorrow) as coronavirus tally reached 31 in the province.

According to a handout issued on Saturday, the government announced to shut hotels, shopping malls and major trade centres during the partial lockdown beginning from March 22 .

However, shops dealing in medicine, vegetables and general stores will remain open during the period.