More areas likely to be sealed in Islamabad

Administration urges people to follow SOPs or face lockdown

ISLAMABAD: The administration of the federal capital has hinted at imposing lockdown in more areas if people continue to disregard the precautionary protocols for curbing the spread of coronavirus.

Islamabad Deputy Commissioner (DC) Hamza Shafqaat said that the administration would be left with no option but to seal more localities of the federal capital if the violations of standard operating procedures (SOPs) devised to control the pandemic were not stopped.

The official said this during a visit to the sectors to be sealed on June 18 including I-8/3, I-8/4, I-10/2, and I-10. Police, Rangers and Pakistan Army officers were also present on the occasion.

The DC said that all sub-sectors would be sealed off under the smart lockdown policy from 16 different points.

Police, Rangers and Army personnel have been deployed at the exit and entry points of these areas to control unnecessary movement of the people. “The administration is making special arrangements for the food supplies in the sealed areas,” he added.

Shafqaat said that shops selling essential commodities including medical stores would remain open however nobody would be allowed to enter the areas from outside. Mosques would also conduct congregational prayers however only the mosque's management would participate in it. Islamabad administration has been conducting some 3,000 coronavirus tests a day, he said, adding that as many as 80,000 people have so far been tested.

He confessed to a slow testing rate citing the over-stretched healthcare system. However, he said that the testing rate in the federal capital was still higher than the rest of the country.

He once again urged the people to cooperate with the government to curb virus spread.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 18^th, 2020.