The National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) on Saturday sought feedback from the provinces to finalise recommendations for opening some more sectors of economy halted due to Covid-19 outbreak.
The ‘negative list’ on which feedback from the provinces has been sought, comprises of economic and industrial sector halted due to Covid-19 outbreak in the country and are being considered to be opened in the coming days for economic sustainability and viability so that major unemployment and crisis could be avoided.
This was discussed in a meeting held here at NCOC, for analyzing long- and short-term strategy on Covid-19 titled ‘Living with the Pandemic’, chaired by Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar.
The NCOC recommended that the educational institutions should be kept closed till August as the summer season and pandemic would be at its peak in July. The forum emphasised the need to revise its communication strategy for better messaging and creating awareness among public on the Covid-19.
Minister for Industries and Production Hammad Azhar said restaurants under the negative list will have to be completely close their services or partially initiate its functions with only take away services. The forum insisted that the marriage halls should only be allowed with limited number of guests, one dish and strict compliance of standard operating procedures (SOPs). Asad Umar directed the relevant authorities to calculate economic impacts of Covid-19 in the first quarter of current calendar year.
The NCOC stressed that capacity building and restructuring of the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination should be done as per approval by the federal cabinet. The forum was also apprised that the critical care resources will be increased owing to the surging risk of the pandemic. The forum was informed that the testing capacity of Covid-19 is being increased to 6,72,000 tests.
Federal Minister for Economic Affairs, Khusroo Bakhtiar said that National Integrated Management System should be put in place for better coordination between the federal and the provinces. Dr Zafar Mirza said wearing face masks at crowded places has been made mandatory to prevent the spread of coronavirus. He said although wearing of masks is mandatory, no punitive action is being taken against the violators. He said healthcare workers are the frontline force in the fight against Covid-19 and the government has taken a number of measures to protect them under ‘We Care’ programme. He informed the forum that recovery rate of coronavirus patients is 36 per cent, while locally transmission rate stands at 92 per cent, and despite the rise in the cases, only around 25 per cent of the health system has been engaged so far.
The meeting was attended by Interior Minister Brig (r) Syed Ejaz Ahmad Shah, Minister for National Food Security and Research Fakhar Imam, Minister for Economic Affairs Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar, SAPM for Information and Broadcasting and Chairman China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Authority Lt Gen (r) Asim Saleem Bajwa, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on National Security Dr Moeed Yousaf, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Dr Zafar Mirza and Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Digital Pakistan Tania Aidrus.
Separately, local transmission of coronavirus sees has seen exponential rise in the city of Gilgit-Baltistan and the local administration has imposed a ban on entry into the city till further notice. Anyone wanting to enter the city will now have to have a valid no objection certificate (NOC) starting today (Sunday).
Meanwhile, the Civil Aviation Authority has decided to increase the number of domestic flights operation from June 1. Domestic flights will operate from Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta, the CAA said in a statement on Saturday.
The CAA has enhanced to enhance the ratio of domestic flights from ongoing 20-22 percent to 40-45 percent of pre-coronavirus operations on instructions of the government. The decision has been taken due to growing business and public demand for air travel and smart lockdown being observed by the federal and provincial governments. The CAA decision comes a day after the government permitted all national and foreign carriers to resume their outbound operations from Pakistan.
