The National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) said in a statement, on Thursday, that 22 educational institutions across the country were shut down during the last 48 hours for not complying with standard operating procedures (SOPs) for curbing the spread of Covid-19.

According to the command centre, sixteen educational institutions in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, one in Islamabad and five in Azad Jammu and Kashmir were closed down for flouting SOPs.

"During last 48 hours, 22 educational institutions across Pakistan have been closed due to non compliance of health SOPs/protocols and disease prevalence."

Authorities on Tuesday had sealed a "major medical college" in the Federal Capital after a spike in COVID-19 cases was reported. The Islamabad district health office (DHO) in a letter had stated, “It has been observed with great concern that numerous cases of Covid-19 have been reported from Riphah Medical College, Islamabad, since September 9. Till date more than 16 cases have been reported. This trend is very alarming as this institute is becoming a super spreader and a hotspot for Covid-19. It is advised to immediately close down the campus and hostel premises and conduct thorough disinfection activities."

NCOC taking action the recommendations of the DHO had sealed the college. The centre also shared that contact tracing will now be followed to "ensure containment" of COVID-19 cases in the city.

The government had decided to open the educational institutions on Sept 15, from high school onward as a test run before calling in secondary and primary level students on Sept 23 and 30 respectively.

The decision to open educational institutes was taken after Pakistan successfully brought down the cases of COVID-19 since March, when the government had decided to impose a strict lockdown.

NCOC had issued a set of instructions for educational institutes, parents and students to follow which included social distancing and mandatory face masks. The centre had asked parents to not send their children to school in case of fever, cough or any other symptoms.