Chinese military medical team visits NCOC

NCOC officials brief delegation on Pakistan's National Test Track and Quarantine (TTQ) strategy

ISLAMABAD: A ten-member Chinese military medical team on Tuesday visited the National Command and Operation Centre in Islamabad.

The team, headed by Major General Huang Qingzhen, was apprised about Pakistan's efforts to contain the spread of coronavirus and its future emergency response measures.

The delegation was briefed on Pakistan's National Test Track and Quarantine (TTQ) strategy - a major initiative launched by NCOC earlier this month.

The strategy envisions ramping up testing to identify Covid-19 hotspots as a precursor to easing blanket lockdowns and moving towards a ‘smart’ containment model.

The Chinese medical team shared their experiences of early identification, early isolation and early treatment, which helped China tackle the virus.

The NCOC officials appreciated the delegation for sharing their expertise and thanked the Chinese government for their support in fighting against Covid-19.

A look inside Pakistan’s Covid-19 response

The delegation thanked NCOC officials for steering the National Covid-19 effort with a scientific approach as per the advice of health experts.

The Chinese medical teams consist of various specialists including disease control, pulmonologist, intensive care unit (ICU) infectious disease and control, testing and nursing experts.

TTQ

Detailing how the TTQ flowchart would work, officials said it begins with direct reports of Covid-19 cases from hospitals, laboratory walk-ins, national and provincial helplines, etc. From there, data is fed into the IDIMS, which will allow authorities to both trace those new Covid-19 patients have been in contact with and figure out where the virus hotspots are and what infection trends look like.

According to the officials, a TTQ apex committee comprising the focal person on Covid-19, the federal and provincial health ministers and each province’s health secretary will oversee the strategy. A TTQ execution cell, comprising four subordinate groups will report directly to the apex committee while providing support, assistance and guidance to existing provincial mechanisms, like PDMAs.