LAHORE: In the wake of preventing the spread of coronavirus, Punjab government on Friday has put a ban on holding wedding ceremonies at the marriage halls across the province.

According to details, the owners of marriage halls have been barred from arranging indoor events from November 20 to January 31.

The notification issued by the local government further allowed to hold outdoor ceremonies with maximum capacity of 300 people.

The decision was taken after Pakistan reported 36 deaths in the last 24 hours by novel coronavirus as the number of positive cases has surged to 368,665. The nationwide tally of fatalities has jumped to 7,561.

According to the latest figures by the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), 2,738 persons tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 24 hours. Sindh remains the worst-hit province by the pandemic both in terms of cases and casualties followed by Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

Till now 159,752 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Sindh, 112,893 in Punjab, 43,259 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 16,642 in Balochistan, 25,719 in Islamabad, 5,806 in Azad Kashmir and 4,494 in Gilgit-Baltistan.

Furthermore 2,780 individuals have lost their lives to the epidemic in Sindh, 2,811 in Punjab, 1,319 in KP, 158 in Balochistan, 266 in Islamabad, 134 in Azad Kashmir and 93 in GB.

Pakistan has so far conducted 5,098,291 coronavirus tests and 42,909 in the last 24 hours. 327,542 coronavirus patients have recovered in the country whereas 1,517 patients are in critical condition. NNI