Govt to engage Ulema to ensure Covid SOPs in mosques

NCC also bans indoor dinning in restaurants, public gatherings in consultation with all provinces

The National Coordination Committee (NCC) has notified the measures taken to control the spread of coronavirus during the second wave as the infection positivity rate exceeded 7 per cent in the country .

The NCC, which is comprised of all relevant stakeholders including federal and provincial governments, during its meeting in Islamabad on Tuesday, decided to ensure the strict implementation of Covid-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs) across the country.

The Covid-19 tally jumped to 379,883 after 2,954 new cases were reported across the country during the past 24 hours.

Federal Minister for Planning Asad Umar and Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan briefed the media on Tuesday following the meeting.

The NCC has now decided to engage the Ulema (religious scholars) to ensure the implementation of preventive measures against coronavirus in mosques.

It has also imposed a complete ban on indoor events, dinning and public gatherings, which are termed as super spreader of the deadly virus.

Amid the second wave of the contagion, the federal government on Monday announced the closure of all educational institutions untill January 10. It had already banned public gatherings as well as indoor weddings, while restricting the timing of various entertainment places.

The data collected by the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) had revealed that the positivity ratio reached to 7.46% during the last 24-hour period – highest since the start of the pandemic in Pakistan. The Centre also learned that due to the high positivity ratio, hospitalisation has doubled over the last two weeks.

The NCOC was informed that Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) had the highest Covid-19 positivity rate of 11.45%, followed by Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa 9.85%, Sindh 9.63%, Islamabad 8.09%, Balochistan 7.73% and Gilgit-Baltistan 5.23%. Punjab has the lowest positivity rate in the country at 3.95%.