Important NCC meeting tomorrow to decide on easing or extending lockdown

The National Coordination Committee (NCC) will meet in Islamabad tomorrow to decide   whether to ease or extend the lockdown restrictions imposed in the country.

The meeting will be attended by all four chief ministers, federal ministers, chairman National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and the provincial health ministers.

The NCC, in its last meeting on May 7, had decided to extend the lockdown till May 31. However, markets and shopping malls were opened for the public, with SOPs, on the directives of the Supreme Court.

A meeting of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Saturday under Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar mulled over the country's new “Living with the Pandemic” strategy to cope with coronavirus.

"The NCOC recommended that the educational institutions be closed till August as the summer season and pandemic would be at peak in July," a statement from the government read.

The meeting sought provinces' feedback on "negative list" aiming to finalise the recommendations of opening some more sectors of the economy halted due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

"The forum insisted that the marriage halls should only be allowed with [a] limited number of guests, one dish and strict compliance of standard operating procedures (SOPs)," read the statement.

Moreover, Umar directed the concerned authorities to calculate the economic impacts of the virus in the first quarter of the current calendar year.

The meeting was also apprised about the critical care resources that needed to be increased owing to the surging risk of the pandemic.