PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- Pakistani authorities have closed about two dozen hotels in a scenic tourist destination in the country’s northwest after dozens of hotel employees tested positive for the coronavirus.
According to Maqbool Hussain, a district government official, the August 23 move to place the high-risk areas of Shogran, Naran, and Kaghan under lockdown was aimed at containing the spread of the virus.
He said as many as 47 hotel employees who tested positive for COVID-19 had been quarantined at the hotels where they worked.
The measures came hours after Pakistan reported only four new COVID-19 fatalities in the past 24 hours, the fewest daily deaths reported since March. That announcement raised hopes that Pakistan is on the right path to fully containing the new virus despite having a fragile health system.
Pakistan has confirmed more than 275,000 coronavirus infections and nearly 6,300 deaths since reporting its first case in February.