ISLAMABAD: Viewing the rising number of coronavirus cases in the country, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Saturday makes masks mandatory at mosques, markets and other public places.

The NCOC, the principal body implementing the national Covid-19 efforts, said that a distance of six-feet must be maintained at mosques and carpets must not be used.

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It directed children and elders to offer prayers at home. While only vaccinated people would be allowed to enter mosques.

The NCOC said that hand sanitisers should be used and doors and windows should be kept open at mosques. It also asked worshippers to hold Friday congregations with fewer people.

Earlier, the NCOC had decided to close educational institutions with a high positivity rate of Omicron virus, a new Covid-19 variant.

According to a statement by the NCOC, Covid testing at educational institutes was carried out in major Omicron-hit cities to ascertain disease spread among students and ensure accurate disease mapping.

Data suggested a strong correlation between vaccination levels and infection rates in various cities. It had therefore been decided that aggressive testing would be conducted at educational institutes for the next two weeks especially in high disease prevalence cities and the institutes with high positivity rates would be closed for one week.

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It asked the federating units to carry out special vaccination drives in schools to ensure 100 per cent vaccination of students over 12 years of age.