Chitral Times Report
PESHAWAR: A meeting of the provincial task force on COVID-19 held here on Thursday with Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mahmood Khan in the chair has decided to ensure strict implementation of the decisions taken by NCOC regarding lockdown from 8 to 16 May 2021. The meeting decided that all the business and markets will remain closed during the said period except the exemptions given to essential service providers whereas Jummat-ul-Wida and Eid prayer would be performed under strict SOPs. The chief minister stressed the need for strict implementation of SOPs and other precautionary measures to contain possible spread of COVID-19 during the Eid holidays and appealed to the people to follow corona SOPs; observe Eid with simplicity and stay at their homes. He also appealed to political leaders and elected public representatives to avoid public gatherings during eid at their Hujras. “Each and every segment of the society will have to play its respective role to effectively contain the recent wave of COVID-19 because a minor mistake or slightest negligence can lead us to a big problem,” he added.
Provincial Ministers Taimur Saleem Jhagra, Shahram Tarakai, Shaukat Yousafzai, Special Assistant to CM Kamran Bangash, Corps Commander Peshawar Nauman Mahmood, Chief Secretary Dr. Kazim Niaz, Inspector General Police Dr. Sanaullah Abbasi and other relevant high ups attended the meeting. The meeting reviewed in detail the latest situation of corona pandemic with special focus on the decisions taken by NCOC regarding lockdown during the period from 8 to 16 May and took a number of decisions to this end. It was decided in the meeting that there will be a complete lockdown in the province from 8 to 16 May 2021 however; shops of essential daily commodities including tandhoor, milk, home delivery, utility, telecom services and pharmacies would be exempted. Similarly, groceries, bakeries and sweet shops would remain open till 06:00 PM for the duration from 8 to 16 May. Besides, exemption has also been granted to vehicles of petroleum exploration and production companies. In order to facilitate the citizens to go back to their home, it was decided to keep public transport open on coming Saturday and Sunday. It was also decided to impose complete ban on the visits of tourist’s spots of the province during the aforesaid lockdown and in case of violation the visitors would not only be sent back but would also be fined. The meeting was apprised that special arrangements have been made to ensure provision and availability of essential daily commodities during the lockdown.
Later, briefing about the latest situation of COVID-19, healthcare capacity and other matters related to pandemic, it was informed that due to smart lockdown and other precautionary measures, the situation got better during the last two weeks adding that the number of daily new cases have been decreased constantly. Similarly, positivity rate of corona cases in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was also declining however the number of new deaths continues to increase. The meeting was informed that 12 districts of the province have positivity rate higher than 10% and 12 districts have positivity rate less than 5%. The meeting was also briefed about the current situation of corona vaccination in the province and told that so far 315,000 individuals had received first doze of vaccine and over 108,000 individuals received two dozes whereas 116,412 individuals had been fully vaccinated so far. The forum was briefed that over the last few weeks, 663 new HDU beds, 19 ICU beds and 455 low flow beds had been added to existing capacity of major hospitals of the province.
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