NCOC preparing plans for Eid, Muharram, Rabiul Awal

KARACHI: A meeting of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) was held here at Sindh Chief Minister House on Saturday to consider the Standard Operating Procedures for the upcoming Eidul Azha and Muharram-ul-Haram in view of the prevailing coronavirus pandemic.

Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar chaired the meeting while Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali attended the session as its host. Apart from other officials, the meeting was attended via video-link by Interior Minister Brig (retd) Ejaz Shah and representatives of other provincial governments, Azad Kashmir, and Gilgit Baltistan. The meeting appreciated the system of tracing, testing, and treating the patients of coronavirus being followed by the Sindh government, terming the work done by the provincial authorities as commendable.

Federal Minister Asad Umar said that a proper monitoring system had to be evolved to verify due observance of the safety precautions at the makeshift cattle markets for Eidul Azha. The visitors and others associated with these markets have to wear face masks and observe necessary safety measures. He said the meetings of the NCoC were held in different provincial capitals to hold consultations and to appreciate performance of the provincial governments to contain the spread of the coronavirus. Umar said that although there is decline in the number of newly confirmed cases of coronavirus and deaths but people were required to remain careful in their conduct so as not to catch the contagious disease.

He appreciated the services of doctors, para-medical staff, government machinery, and personnel of law-enforcement agencies in Sindh as frontline workers against the coronavirus. He said that a proper control mechanism would be implemented at the makeshift cattle markets. Umar said that the federal government was ensuring implementation of the precautionary measures across the country in consultation with the provinces. Umar said that plans and precautionary measures were being prepared for Muharram-ul-Haram and later for Rabiul Awal.

Speaking on the occasion, Sindh CM welcomed the team of NCoC in Sindh and said that such sessions would go a long way in preventing spread of the coronavirus. He acknowledged the utility of NCoC in effectively combating the coronavirus epidemic as said that although there were difficulties in the initial stages but later on the centre and provinces combined their action and resources against the viral disease. He said that special arrangements were made at the hospitals under this partnership to tackle the emergency.

The Sindh CM informed informed the meeting that Sindh had attained the capacity to conduct up to 12,000 coronavirus tests in a single day but the ratio of tests being conducted in the province has considerably declined now. He said selective lockdown was implemented in hotspots of coronavirus cases. He said that the Sindh government had established two separate hospitals in Karachi to treat the patients affected by virus.

The CM further informed the meeting that Sindh government had imposed ban on using streets of the residential areas for selling the sacrificial animals and designated spots were announced for that purpose.