Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday Leads the corona meeting. The government ramped up measures to control the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic in the country. Pm stressed focusing on strict adherence to the standard operating procedures (SOPs) and avoiding any return of lockdown to protect people’s livelihood.
Prime Minister Imran Khan, who chaired separate meetings of the federal cabinet and the National Coordination Committee (NCC) on Covid-19, emphasized that the country could not afford another business closure.
After receiving a briefing in the cabinet on the pandemic situation and reviewing the NCOC. PM stressed the need for caution because of the emerging virus situation.
The country cannot afford lockdown again,” He told the cabinet after receiving briefings on the second wave of Covid-19. Furthermore,The Planning Minister Asad Umar, who also heads the NCOC, and his Special Assistant on Health, Dr. Faisal Sultan.
‘smart lockdown’
Sticking to the policy of ‘smart lockdown’ the prime minister called for ensuring a balance between disease control. People’s livelihood and urged provinces to ensure implementation of the trace, test, quarantine, and smart lockdown strategies.
Prime Minister Imran Khan told the cabinet that caution was needed given the emerging coronavirus situation but stressed that the government would not shut down businesses so that the economy could continue to thrive.
At the NCC meeting, which was also attended by relevant federal ministers and senior officers.
All the chief ministers also attended the NCC meeting via video link. While appreciating efforts of the NCOC and all stakeholders for public safety and health.
PM directed “the stakeholders to ensure a balance between disease control measures and livelihood of the people.”
The prime minister mainly directed for ramping up hospital care to cater to any rise in Covid cases, especially the critical care equipment.
He also directed the NCOC to formulate a future course of action in consultation with the stakeholders and necessary guidelines.
Since last week, new cases had crossed the 1,000 marks for the first time since the first week of August. According to the NCOC daily bulletin on Tuesday, 1,123 more people tested positive for the deadly virus during the last 24 hours.
The NCOC, which serves as the nerve centre of the government’s unified effort to control the pandemic. Further NCOC, said that the total number of active cases rose to 13,242, while 12 Covid patients died. On Monday, the NCOC said that percentage of positive cases had risen to 4%.
Pandemic outbreak
Since the pandemic outbreak, a total of 335,093 cases were detected so far. It said, adding that around 315,016 people had recovered across Pakistan, making it a significant count with over 90% recovery ratio. As of Tuesday, the nationwide death toll stood at 6,835.
In the wake of the second wave and rising number of cases, the National Assembly Secretariat closed for three days from Wednesday (today). The administration wing of the secretariat was announced on Tuesday.
According to an office order, the secretariat would remain closed until November 6 for disinfection purposes.
“The secretariat will resume its functions on November 9 with 25% essentially-required staff. It said, adding that the rest of the staff would remain available for duty on an hour’s notice.
The office order emphasized that the employees having symptoms of Covid-19 should get themselves tested immediately and stay isolated till a negative result. The employees have further been asked to observe Covid-19 SoPs during office hours.
The office hours to be observed with effect from November 9 will be from 10 am to 3 pm from Monday to Thursday, and 10 am to 1 pm on Friday.
