Lahore, Aug 3 (IANS): Pakistan's Punjab province, the second worst-hit in the country due to the coronavirus pandemic, has lifted a lockdown amid a continued fall in the number of positive cases, it was reported on Monday.

The lockdown was imposed till August 5 across the province ahead of Eid-ul-Adha in a bid to contain the spread of coronavirus, reports The Express Tribune.

But it was lifted on Sunday, a day ahead of the given date.

In a notification, the provincial health department said all business except those which fall in "negative list" will be allowed to operate from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. from Monday to Friday

The new directives came into effect on Monday.

Punjab has reported 24 new cases of the coronavirus and four more fatalities, according to the government's COVID-19 portal.

This has taken the total cases in the province to 93,197 while the death toll has risen to 2,148.

More than 82,000 people have recovered from the virus in the province so far.

Pakistan has so far recorded a total of 279,966 cases, with 5,982 deaths.