The National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) on Monday, in line with the Prime Minister’s announcement of containment of Covid-19 through smart lockdown strategy, undertook a comprehensive review of potential virus clusters and hotspots across Pakistan.
“A total of 20 cities across Pakistan have been identified as having likely increase in ratio or speed of infection which needs restrictive measures for containment of Covid-19. The same is being shared with provinces by the NCOC,” the forum was apprised during a meeting chaired by Minister for Planning Development Reforms and Special Initiatives Asad Umar here.
In Islamabad, G-9/2 and G-9/3 have more than 300 cases and have already been sealed along with Karachi Company whereas the new hotspots in Islamabad which are being monitored and might be sealed include I-8, I-10, Ghauri Town, Bharakhau, G-6 and G-7 sectors.
Various cities which have registered increase in infection cases and have been identified by the NCOC for necessary restrictive measures include Karachi, Lahore, Quetta, Peshawar, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Faisalabad, Multan, Gujranawala, Swat, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Sialkot, Gujarat, Ghotki, Larkana, Khairpur, Dera Ghazi Khan, Malakand and Mardan.
It may be mentioned here that test, track and quarantine (TTQ) strategy is aimed at identifying disease spread, focused clusters and hotspots to enable targeted lockdowns and need-driven resource optimisation at all levels. The TTQ strategy has been formulated to keep spread of the disease in check while different sectors open up. The strategy involves ramping up of testing, rapidly tracing the contacts of confirmed positive cases, and effective quarantining of positive and suspected cases.
The NCOC was briefed in detail about operationalisation of additional oxygenated beds and vents including procurement of these critical healthcare equipment by National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) as announced by the prime minister. A total of 2,150 additional oxygenated beds will be functional by end of July to meet additional requirement. As many as 1,000 oxygenated beds will be functional by end of June and another 1150 by end of July.
Meanwhile, the NCOC was told that during last 24 hours, more than 10,557 violations of health guidelines/instructions observed across Pakistan. According to NCOC, more than 1252 markets and shops, 12 industries and 1148 transport vehicles were cautioned, fined sensitized and sealed.
In line with the prime minister’s instructions for compliance to health guidelines and instructions particularly working places, industrial sector, transport, markets and shops. To ensure the implementation of the health guidelines and instructions and preventive measures including wearing of face mask in public as per WHO new guidelines on the subject, special teams were operating all across the country to ensure that the standard operating procedures (SOPs) were being implemented.
As part of enforcement of SOPs in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), 589 violations were noted and around 16 shops and markets were while 226 transport vehicles were fined. In Gilgit Baltistan (GB), around 128 violations were noted whereas 28 markets and shops were sealed and 30 transport vehicles fined. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), around 3878 violations were noticed whereas 222 shops and markets were sealed, 193 transport vehicles and 1157 individuals were fined. In Punjab, 4929 violations were witnessed and 801 shops and markets were closed, 12 industries sealed and 691 transport vehicles were also fined.
