The Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations, and Coordination on Sunday said that the government will ensure proper implementation of COVID-19 Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) during the Eid holidays.
According to an official of the ministry, in this regard, National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) has decided to formulate monitoring teams at the federal, provincial, and district level to ensure implementation of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) SOPs from May 8-16 across the country.
He said that the NCOC decided that during this period all business and shops will remain closed with few exceptions like food outlets, grocery stores, paramedics, petrol pumps and bakeries, etc. He said that there would be a complete ban on tourism for both locals and outsiders.
He added all tourist resorts, formal and informal picnic spots, public parks, shopping malls, all hotels and restaurants in or around tourist or picnic spots will remain closed while travel nodes leading to tourist or picnic spots both in hilly areas of Northern areas will also be closed, however, locals especially people of Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir will be allowed to travel back home.
He urged the citizens to strictly follow COVID-19 SOPs to prevent the disease in the wake of a sudden increase in the number of infections in the country. He said that this disease expansion had caused a burden on the country’s health system as Covid cases were jumping up for the past few weeks.
He said that it was observed that citizens were not following Corona Standard Operating Procedures properly. He said that the current situation shows the increasing trend of Corona disease and its complications in its third wave in the country.
He said that the government is closely monitoring the third wave and it will not hesitate to lock down more areas if other interventions don’t work in the next few days. “We regularly monitor positivity ratio at national, provincial and city level and when it increases it incurs burden on healthcare capacity. Pressure is mounting in the major urban centers of the country.”
He said that keeping in view the disease risk certain restrictions were imposed focusing on high-risk sectors with mass gathering.
He said that this time is not of any complacency rather strict compliance of SOPs. He asked the citizens to wear a mask, maintain social distance, wash hands with soap frequently and avoid crowded places.
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