Smart lockdown in 3 localities

New social distancing directives issued for federal govt offices

ISLAMABAD: Smart lockdown in three areas of Islamabad has come into effect on Saturday after the number of coronavirus infected patients in these areas soared past 500.

The smart lockdown has been imposed in Karachi Company Markaz and sub-sectors of Sector G-9 including G-9/2 and G-9/3.

Army, Rangers and police personnel were patrolling the streets, while pickets were set up at exit and entry points of the sealed areas and only local residents were allowed to come and go after showing national identity cards.

The curfew-like lockdown has been enforced in the related areas after spike in the positive cases.

Regarding the smart lockdown, Islamabad Deputy Commissioner (DC) Hamza Shafqaat said that the shops selling essential commodities would remain open even during the lockdown.

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DC said of all 6,000 reported cases in the federal capital, over 500 were reported from sealed sectors. Talking to the media workers outside Karachi Company police station, Shafqaat said that they were strictly monitoring conditions in other areas of the G-9 sector too.

He said that the virus-hit areas were sealed on the directions of the health department and after consultation with all stakeholders.

Regarding handling the increased numbers of coronavirus patients, the DC said there are 450 beds in intensive care unit (ICU) facilities while they are adding another 100 beds in the Federal General Hospital (FGH).

He said that people should realise that following standard operating procedures (SOPs) devised to control the spread of coronavirus disease was for their own safety. Government would not allow violations of SOPs to keep people safe from contracting the virus, he said.

“We have sealed various places including government offices on violation of precautionary measures,” DC added.

He urged the people to implement SOPs as it was in their benefit, adding that the virus spread could not be curbed without their cooperation.

To mitigate adverse effects of the coronavirus pandemic, the federal government has issued new social distancing protocols for public sector employees for a fortnight.

The measures include working with half the number of employees in the office, people showing symptoms of infection working from home and extensive sanitisation and social distancing.

To explain the directive, the ministry of interior issued a notification on Saturday. The circular read that modified standard operating procedures (SOPs) will come into effect from Monday. The competent officials of the ministries and divisions have been authorised to prepare a strategy to implement the protocols in their domain.

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As per the notification read by The Express Tribune, only 50% staff would work in the government offices on rotation basis while the present staff would adhere to all SOPs already devised by the government.

The public servants suffering from any chronic ailments would be allowed to work from home. They would only be called to offices upon requirement.

It also said that the officials working remotely would not be allowed to leave station and remain available over telephone.

If an employee of any government institution is tested virus-positive, he would have to produce the medical report of his in order to seek home-isolation.

The entry of visitors must be stopped, in case of pressing need, the deputy secretary of the related department or institution would allow, the circular said.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 14^th, 2020.