The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Friday decided that the winter vacations in schools will start from January 3 except in areas affected by extreme weather conditions or fog, reported The News.

NCOC head Asad Umar chaired a meeting to review the rescheduling of winter vacations at educational institutes, which was also attended by Federal Minister Education Shafqat Mehmood, SAPM Health Dr Faisal Sultan and other stakeholders.

In a statement, the forum said the provincial entities would be notified accordingly.

Earlier, the Lahore High Court directed the Punjab government to consider closing schools from December 20 for winter vacations due to the increased level of smog in the provincial capital, reported Dawn.

During hearing of petitions related to environmental issues, a Punjab Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) official told the court that higher consumption of grilled fish and BBQ in the cold weather is one of the reasons of pollution and smog.

According to the report, he said the markets and restaurants should be ordered to be closed early.

However, Justice Shahid Karim turned down the suggestion to close the BBQ eateries early and asked the authority to find some other solution.

Lahore is the world's most polluted city with very unhealthy air quality, according to IQAir, a Swiss air quality technology company. As per the company the Lahore air quality index was at 234 at the time this report was filed.