08 May 2021 05:47PMISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Saturday began a nine-day shutdown affecting travel and tourist hotspots in a bid to prevent a surge in COVID-19 cases during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr., the government has imposed the most severe restrictions since a one-month lockdown in April last year.
Businesses, hotels and restaurants as well as markets and parks will be closed, while public transport between provinces and within cities has been halted.Mosques, however, which have been packed each night throughout Ramadan - with few people wearing masks - will remain open. Authorities fear curbs on places of worship could ignite confrontation in the deeply conservative Islamic republic.
International flights have been slashed and border crossings with Iran and Afghanistan closed, except for trade.