PESHAWAR: The district administration has imposed smart lockdown in four localities in Peshawar after surge in Coviod-19 positivity rate as health department is set to seek permission for imposition of standard operating procedure in three more districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The vaccination of elderly people continues at a slow pace as less than 3,000 persons have been administered the vaccine across the province since March 10.

Peshawar Deputy Commissioner Khalid Mehmood in a notification said that on the recommendation of district health officer, smart lockdown was imposed in Street 9, Sector E II, Street 5, Sector F-V, Phase IV, Street 3, Gulbahar No.4 and Street 11, Defence Colony. He said that the entry and exit points of the areas would remain restricted and only those people, who were supplying essential commodities, medicines, food, water to the residents, would be allowed.

Health dept to seek permission for strict implementation of SOPs after surge in Covid-19 cases

According to the notification, gatherings are not allowed and the people violating the restrictions would face action. Officials are set to present recommendations at the meeting of National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) o Monday (today ) regarding implementation of SOP in the strictest form.

“Chief Secretary Dr Kazim Niaz would put recommendations before NCOC to ensure the strict enforcement of SOP,” officials said. They added that as per national policy, any district with over 10 per cent positivity rate of Covid-19, required certain measures such as closure of schools, hotels and marriage halls as transmission of coronavirus was showing upward trend.

“Charsadda, Nowshera and Kohat are the three districts where positivity rate is above five per cent. The increasing trend is worrisome. Therefore, we have recommended to the chief secretary smart lockdowns and other measures to put brakes on transmission of the virus,” said officials.

Meanwhile, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa recorded six deaths and 368 Covid-19 cases on Sunday. A report by health department said that the province’s mortalities from the pandemic stood at 2,150 total cases were 76,104. The province has presently 3,290 active coronavirus patients.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has so far registered 70,655 recoveries from the infection as 141 more people recovered from the virus during the 24 hours, according to the report of health department.

Nowshera, Mardan and Swabi have reported two deaths each while Peshawar continues to record bulk of new incidence. The provincial capital has detected 192 new patients, making number of its total infected persons 31,074.

“The chief secretary will seek permission of NCOC to close down businesses from 6pm in four districts and only takeaway is allowed from hotels. We want a ban on marriage halls,” said officials. They said the provincial government would also seek NCOC’s nod to allow the administration to enhance penalties for violators of SOP to control spread of the virus.

“If NCOC accepts our suggestions, then the deputy commissioners concerned will be asked by the government to ensure its implementation,” said officials. They added that vaccination of elderly people aged 60 and above continued at 280 centres throughout the province.

“However, the speed with which vaccination is taking place is extremely slow. We are receiving on average 500 people for inoculation per day the number needs to be enhanced,” said officials. They said that people got registered with the NCOC after dialing 1166 and were allotted a four-digit number to be able to get vaccinated.

They said that vaccination of people was not permitted without registration. They added that people should be motivated for vaccination as it was the only way to prevent more cases and mortalities in third wave of the pandemic that was already in progress.

Officials said that the province had got doses of vaccine for free provision to the elderly people, therefore, the health authorities also wanted to ensure that more people came to the vaccination centres so that they could be safeguarded. “There is no way except strict enforcement of SOP as well as vaccination,” they added.

Published in Dawn, March 15th, 2021