Coronavirus vaccination: Mandi Bahauddin – only Punjab city that touches NCOC ‘normalcy’ mark

Published November 1, 2021
A student receives a dose of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine at her school. — AP/File
A student receives a dose of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine at her school. — AP/File

LAHORE: As the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) issued a notification allowing the cities that have achieved more than 60 percent coronavirus vaccination to return to normalcy, only one city of Punjab falls in this category, that is Mandi Bahauddin.

Punjab government on Sunday decided to relax coronavirus restrictions from today (Monday) in the cities of the province having higher vaccination rates. The NCOC has taken this decision after reviewing the pandemic situation all over the country and termed the progress of vaccination “excellent” in the cities where at least 60 percent of the population has been completely inoculated.

Similarly, in the cities where 40pc to 60pc of the population has been vaccinated, the progress has been declared “good” and those with less than 40pc inoculation have been placed in “low” category.

The NCOC has also decided to end non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) in the cities in “excellent” category. The intra and inter-district transport has also been allowed to operate with full seating capacity in these cities. In the rest of the cities, transport has been allowed to operate with 80pc seating capacity, but NPIs will remain in place. The new NCOC guidelines will be effective from Nov 1 to 15.

In the light of the NCOC’s new guidelines, Punjab Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department Secretary Imran Sikander Baloch has announced that “all the cities” with 60pc vaccination would return to normalcy from Nov 1 (today).

He said that so far 60pc vaccination had been achieved in Mandi Bahauddin (only), while it was 40pc to 60pc in Rawalpindi and Jhelum and 45pc in Lahore.

He said social activities, including marriage ceremonies, dining, business activities, sports, gyms, cinemas and religious activities were allowed in the highly vaccinated cities, where educational institutes, offices and intra-city and intra-district public transport could operate at 100pc capacity.

He said maximum 500 persons will be allowed to attend the indoor marriage ceremonies and 1,000 in the outdoor events in the cities falling in “good” and “low” categories. Similarly, cinemas could operate till 1am and all recreational places and parks will allow no more than 70pc attendance in the cities falling in these categories.

Published in Dawn, November 1st, 2021

Opinion

Editorial

Smog hazard
Updated 05 Nov, 2024

Smog hazard

The catastrophe unfolding in Lahore is a product of authorities’ repeated failure to recognise environmental impact of rapid urbanisation.
Monetary policy
05 Nov, 2024

Monetary policy

IN an aggressive move, the State Bank on Monday reduced its key policy rate by a hefty 250bps to 15pc. This is the...
Cultural power
05 Nov, 2024

Cultural power

AS vital modes of communication, art and culture have the power to overcome social and international barriers....
Disregarding CCI
Updated 04 Nov, 2024

Disregarding CCI

The failure to regularly convene CCI meetings means that the process of democratic decision-making is falling apart.
Defeating TB
04 Nov, 2024

Defeating TB

CONSIDERING the fact that Pakistan has the fifth highest burden of tuberculosis in the world as per the World Health...
Ceasefire charade
Updated 04 Nov, 2024

Ceasefire charade

The US talks of peace, while simultaneously arming and funding their Israeli allies, are doomed to fail, and are little more than a charade.