Task force irked over spread of coronavirus

Directs police to take strict action against SOPs violators

PESHAWAR:

Provincial Task Force on Covid-19 has expressed its concern over the increasing positivity ratio of corona and non-compliance of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and Non Pharmaceutical Interventions (NPIs) in the province.

The task force has decided to take measures to ensure strict compliance of the SOPs and NPIs already notified to avoid further spread of the pandemic.

The forum has directed the provincial police to take a lead role for the compliance of the SOPs and NPIs, and decided to request the Pak Army for assistance in this regard.

It was agreed in the meeting to strictly monitor the prevailing situation on a daily basis and to impose further restrictions if deemed necessary.

The forum gave serious thought to blocking the mobile SIMs of those citizens not getting themselves vaccinated against Covid-19 and the concerned quarters were directed to fix a deadline to this end apart from taking necessary steps for the awareness of general public regarding the deadline.

An important meeting of the Provincial Task Force held here on Friday with Chief Minister Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Mahmood Khan in the Chair discussed and reviewed in detail the overall situation of the current wave of Covid-19 in the province and took a number of important decisions to this effect.

The forum expressed its dissatisfaction over the low ratio of Covid vaccination in the provincial capital Peshawar and directed the Health Department and District Administration to take concrete steps in order to achieve the desired target of vaccination.

Briefing about the status of Corona vaccination in the province, it was informed that overall vaccination ratio in the province was quite satisfactory adding that country wide one million people were being vaccinated on daily basis out of which 0.2 million vaccination was being carried out in K-P.

The task force decided to declare two days in a week (Saturday and Sunday) as off days throughout the province; and to keep all the markets and shops except essential services closed on the off days.

The forum further decided to suspend elective services on need basis in the hospitals of most affected areas and directed the Health Department for necessary steps wherever required.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 28^th, 2021.