Islamabad, March 15 : Amid an ongoing third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in Pakistan, educational institutions in seven cities in Punjab province, as well as Islamabad and Peshawar, have been closed again for a period of two weeks from Monday. However, academic activities will continue online during this period, reports The Express Tribune. Moreover, on-going and pre-scheduled exams can be conducted as planned with complete observance of Covid-19 health and safety protocols. The seven cities in Punjab province are Lahore, Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Faisalabad, Multan, Gujranwala and Gujrat, where a major lockdown has come into effect. This development comes after Federal Minister Asad Umar confirmed that the third wave of Covid-19 has started in Pakistan and attributed the rising number of cases to the virus' UK strain. /IANS