Pakistan's major university sealed after emergence of COVID-19 cases

ISLAMABAD - Authorities temporarily closed Pakistan's Quaid-e-Azam University (QAU) located in capital Islamabad after several students were found suffering from COVID-19, officials said.

In a notice issued by the district health authorities late Monday, the university management was told to comply with the standard operating procedures to stop the further spread of the disease among the students.

The health authorities sealed three departments in which infected students were reported, till further notice and police were called in to cordon them off, while the other departments at the university were also closed for a day.

The students of the sealed departments were told to quarantine themselves for two weeks.

Established by the Pakistani government in 1967, QAU is among Pakistan's largest and highest ranked public universities with a total enrollment of more than 13,000 students.

On Facebook, the university's official account said that online classes for all sealed departments will continue, while the transportation of the university will be suspended till further notice.

The district administration of the capital has sealed 49 educational institutions after COVID-19 cases were reported in them since Sept. 15 when the educational activities were resumed in the country after six-month halt due to the epidemic.

A total of 328,602 people have been tested positive of the disease in Pakistan out of which 311,075 recovered while 6,739 died of it, the country's health ministry said on Monday.