The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has announced it will recruit 1,200 more doctors to health facilities in the province as part of its efforts to contain the pandemic.

The decision was announced by KP Information Minister Ajmal Wazir at a news conference on Sunday. Wazir also announced a complete ban on public transport for a week starting from 9:00 am Monday, March 23. The ban does not apply to private vehicles or those used to transport goods, he clarified.

“The chief minister has taken these steps to ensure that citizens remain safe,” said Wazir. “Italy is far more developed than we are but look what happened to them,” he warned.

The minister was referring to the increasing death toll in Italy as it struggles to control the outbreak and is now the country with the most recorded deaths from coronavirus.

In KP, as of Sunday morning, 31 cases of the coronavirus and two deaths have been reported.

A partial lockdown is already in place in the province. On Saturday, the KP government announced that all markets, shopping malls and restaurants will remain closed from Sunday 9am to Tuesday 9am.

Home delivery services will continue. The order will not be applicable to pharmacies, grocery stores, milk shops, petrol pumps as well as fruit, vegetable and meat shops.