Category: Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr Faisal Sultan said on Monday that the government would use whatever administrative help is required, including the Pakistan Army’s, to ensure compliance with non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

Addressing a media briefing in Islamabad, SAPM Sultan said it was necessary to ensure compliance of current NPIs and the government would make efforts for that through two ways: mass appeal to the nation to follow restrictions such as mask-wearing and avoiding crowds and administrative actions to increase compliance, particularly focusing on big cities and tourist destinations.

“We will take all administrative help for this as required, including the army’s help.”

He added that smart lockdowns would also be used again and “we think there are controls and restrictions needed on mobility as well.”

Additionally, only vaccinated people will be allowed to visit tourist resorts during the upcoming Eid holidays and this requirement will be “strictly enforced” upon the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) and health ministry’s insistence, said Dr Sultan.

The SAPM emphasised that vaccines were a “very important strategy” to combat Covid-19, adding that ample number of doses were present in the country.

“Around 450,000 vaccines doses were administered yesterday and an additional six million doses are coming.”

SAPM Sultan said vaccination was the only way to “protect our population from Covid-19 spread”.

ISLAMABAD: The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Sunday has initiated special measures to strictly implement SOPs in all high risk sectors and made vaccination certificate mandatory for tourists’ hotel bookings in AJK and Northern Areas.

The NCOC taking serious note of deadly COVID-19 virus strains prevailing in the country, also violations of standard operating procedures to prevent COVID-19 and the risk of pandemic spread in view of the arrival of Eid-ul-Azha.

The Forum has declared vaccination mandatory for hotel bookings for tourists visiting Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The Forum has issued an elaborate procedure for verification of vaccine certificate at the entrances of tourist sites and hotels.

The Forum has issued detailed instructions to all provinces for strict implementation of SOPs. The Forum has also formed teams to ensure

Vaccination certificate must for tourists, hotels, northern areas: NCOCcompliance of wearing facemasks and implementation of social distancing and safety protocols.

The Forum, in the light of these instructions, had also issued directives for implementation of SOPs related to cattle markets and Eid-ul-Azha to limit disease spread.

The special directives issued for the management of restaurants, gyms, cinemas and wedding halls would also help ensure confirmation of vaccination certificates, the Forum said.

The Forum had also directed to ensure guidelines’ implementation of pre-existing SOPs for bus terminals, railway stations, intercity and intra-city transport, mosques and bazaars.

The Forum had also issued a detailed checklist for district administrations also including comprehensive inspection procedure mentioned in the instructions for ensuring safety protocols in high risk sectors.

However, strict disciplinary action would be taken against the violators and the institution not complying with the SOPs, the Forum warned.

LAHORE: The Punjab government has decided to observe a week for the implementation of the standard operaung procedures (SOPs) and vaccination till July 18 to contain the coronavirus on the occasion of upcoming Eidul Azha.

In line with the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) guidelines to contain the virus, the Punjab home depart-ment has set up a provincial control room for monitoring, issuing directions to all the administrative and police officers to form teams to check the SOPs violations at markets, parks, restaurants, wedding halls and other public places.

Meanwhile, the Kasur health CEO has been transferred for poor performance during the vaccination drive.

The decisions were taken at a meeting jointly presided over by Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid and Chief Secretary Jawwad Rafique Malik at the civil secretariat on Saturday. The senior member Board of Revenue, additional chief secretary, ACS (Home), secretaries of health department,Lahore commissioner, CCPO and deputy commissioner (DCs) attended the meeting, while the divisional commissioners, RPOs, and deputy commissioners of other districts participated through videolink.

The health minister said vaccination, as well as precautionary measures against the virus spread, were essential to ward off the disease. She said the people should make wearing mask and social distancing a habit to contain the virus, especially on Eid.

LAHORE: In view of the apparently imminent fourth wave of Covid19 pandemic across Punjab, the Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education Department has issued new guidelines to all the 81 medical institutions.

Under the new Covid guidelines, the department has directed all the medical institutions, colleges and hospitals to get their employees vaccinated by July 15, asking their heads to certify the implementation of the order.

It has declared that after July 15, non-vaccinated employees would not be allowed to enter the premises of any hospital or medical institution and be marked as `absent from duty`.

The department regretted thatdespite issuance of repeated directions, some of the employees did not get vaccinated so far, which was against the national policy to combat the pandemic. Meanwhile, Punjab Primary & Secondary Healthcare Department Secretary Sarah Aslam reviewed the Covid situation across the province during the last 24 hours.

She said 240 new positive cases were reported during the period, bringing the total number to 347,793 in Punjab.

Till Saturday, she said 328,554 Covid patients had fully recovered, while the number of active cases was 8,424.