The Mansehra district administration has sealed all hotels in Shogran, Naran and Kaghan after fresh cases of COVID-19 were reported among staff working at different hotels.
According to Dawn, Mansehra Additional Deputy Commissioner Maqbool Hussain said that the district health department had reported 47 cases of coronavirus at private hotels located in these spots. As a result, authorities decided to close down all hotels in the area to curb the spread of the virus. It has not yet been specified when the hotels will reopen but Hussain said that they would only be allowed to operate till the situation is brought under control.
Hussain further revealed that 48 hotels, including 22 main businesses and their respective branches, had been sealed at all three tourist spots and the infected patients had been quarantined at the hotels. He added that the local health department and officials were in the process of tracing and testing those who had come into contact with the patients.
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On the other hand, ARY News reported that only five hotels in Naran and Kaghan have been sealed after some of the hotels’ staff tested positive for COVID-19. The report added that no ban has been placed on tourists wishing to visit the areas as some hotels have been reopened after disinfection.
Meanwhile, the Kaghan Development Authority (KDA) on Sunday recommended the Mansehra deputy commissioner to impose a ‘smart lockdown’ in Naran.
“It is proposed that a ‘smart lockdown’ [be imposed] on the hotels/restaurants to avoid the spread of COVID-19,” read the letter addressed to the DC.
After the government reopened businesses and allowed tourism in the areas, there has been a surge in cases of COVID-19 cases in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa forcing local authorities to start large-scale random testing of tourists.
“We have started conducting random testing of both tourists and hotel workers,” Raza Ali Habib, director general of the Galiyat development Authority (GDA) said, adding that 1000 tourists were tested during the last one week out of which only 25 tested positive.
According to a report by the KP tourism department, approximately 627,000 tourists entered Hazara and Malakand divisions after the government lifted COVID-19 restrictions. The reports further revealed that tourists’ inflow to Abbottabad and Galiyat was high as compared to other areas as more than 356,000 entered the areas in the first 12 days.
The government has been actively requesting people to take the necessary precautions and follow SOPs strictly to prevent the spread of the disease.
