ISLAMABAD: As the novel coronavirus claimed 458 more lives besides infecting at least 26,853 more people during the last one week only, the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases and related deaths across the country on Sunday surged past 100,000 and 2,000, respectively.

Till Sunday evening, the tally of Covid-19 confirmed cases had jumped to 101,468, with 2,032 deaths. Sindh has so far detected 38,108 cases, followed by Punjab where 37,090 cases have been recorded, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has confirmed 13,487 cases and Balochistan has found 6,516 positive cases. The federal capital has recorded 4,979 cases, Gilgit-Baltistan 927 and AJK 361 cases.

Amid the grim situation, the federal government reviewed the guideline for a third time and suggested that provincial governments should take strict action against those not wearing masks at public places.

Centre wants provinces to take strict action over SOP violations, as Pakistan’s death toll hits 2,032

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr Zafar Mirza told a news conference that wearing face masks could reduce the chances of contracting virus by 40 to 50 per cent. “That is why we have reviewed our guidelines a third time and now we are suggesting that provinces should take action against those who don’t wear masks. However, we leave it to the provinces what kind of action [fines, etc] they want to take,” he said.

Initially, it was suggested that the people should wear face masks at crowded places. As a second step, it was announced that action would be taken against the shops, public transport, etc which fail to implement the standard operating procedures (SOPs) regarding wearing masks. It was later decided that the government would take action against the citizens found without face masks.

Strict monitoring would be done to see if standard operating procedures were being followed or not, the PM’s aide declared.

Dr Mirza said: “People at mosques, shops, public transport, markets and other crowded places must wear masks. Moreover, I want to say that those who are already suffering from different diseases and old people should be very careful, as 74pc of the deaths have been reported in over 50 years old patients. Moreover, 74pc of the patients, who died, were already suffering from some chronic disease such as diabetes, blood pressure, etc.”

He said the government’s target of conducting 30,000 tests a day would be achieved soon, as 23,100 tests were conducted on Saturday.

Meanwhile, federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar has said an app has been launched to provide details of vacant beds and ventilators to the masses.

“NCOC with the support of @NationalITBoard launched #PakNeghayban today. An updated version of Covid-19 app that will allow users to see availability of beds/vents & capacity/usage in real-time at various health centres across Pakistan Download:play.google.com/store/apps/det…,” he tweeted on Sunday.

According to a statement of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Covid-19, a special video conference was held with emergency services heads of all the provinces. Besides, Ramzan Chippa (Chippa Amb), Mr Ahmad (Edhi Foundation), Dr Hassan Orooj (DG MCI Isb), Dr Rizwan (DG 1122 Punjab), and representatives of Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir also participated in the conference.

The emergency services heads briefed the NCOC meeting about their existing mechanism for provision of emergency services to public. The emergency responders were apprised about Resource Management System (RMS) through which 1,579 hospitals are linked for visibility of various facilities and availability of inventory. Of the 1,579 hospitals, data of 804 hospitals across Pakistan was visible on RMS system, it stated.

This coordination would help in mitigating challenges faced by emergency responders/ public at large and would facilitate smooth working of hospitals and health care staff, it added.

While sharing the detail of actions taken against the SOP violators during the past 24 hours, the NCOC claimed that in Balochistan 705 violations were observed due to which 629 shops, three industries and 15 transport/vehicles were temporarily closed/ fined and cautioned.

In Punjab action was taken against 965 shops, two industries and 715 transports on 4,641 SOP violations. In Sindh, 81 shops were closed/fined/ cautioned due to 826 SOP violations. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 398 SOP violations were reported and action was taken against 186 shops and 106 transport/vehicles.

In GB, 96 shops and 56 transports were fined/sealed on 267 violations of health guidelines/ instructions. In Islamabad, 44 violations were marked due to which 29 shops, two industries and 13 transports were fined/sealed. In AJK, 972 SOPs violations were observed during which 168 shops/ and 202 transports were fined/ sealed.

Published in Dawn, June 8th, 2020