Lockdown in Pakistan: PM Imran Khan chairs NCC meeting
ISLAMABAD: A meeting of the National Coordination Committee (NCC) is underway with Prime Minister Imran Khan in the chair to review the prevailing coronavirus situation in the country and take a decision on imposing lockdown in cities with high positivity ratio.
The session is attended by chief ministers, ministers and chief secretaries.
The meeting will review the latest COVID-19 numbers and decide about imposing further restrictions as the third wave of coronavirus wreaks havoc in Pakistan.
Sharing details of the COVID-19 in Sindh, Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said the provincial government had suggested imposing a ban on inter-provincial transport on March 31 but the advice was turned down and now the situation is turning worse in the province.
“We have to take hard decisions in order to control the pandemic,” Murad added.
According to sources, there’s a possibility that the NCC may announce a lockdown in cities where the positivity ratio is exceeding 10% as hinted by Asad Umar earlier this week.
It is expected that commercial activities and offices may also be closed due to the worsening COVID-19 situation.
On Thursday, Federal Minister for Planning Asad Umar and Special Assistant on Health Dr Faisal Sultan had called on the prime minister and briefed him in detail about the coronavirus situation in the country after which the NCC meeting was convened.
The NCC is an apex body headed by the prime minister. All the chief ministers, federal ministers and other key officials are members of it.
Worsening situation
The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Wednesday had suggested more restrictions to control COVID-19.
“We will have to increase the restrictions. If we do not contain the rapid spread of the pandemic, we will have no option but to impose a complete lockdown in the big cities,” Umar had said after chairing an NCOC meeting.
The minister had warned that this was the last chance for people to take the pandemic seriously as done in the first wave last year. Otherwise, he warned, they would have to suffer strict restrictions.
He regretted that neither was the public nor the administration showing responsibility to ensure full compliance with precautions and anti-COVID SOPs issued by the government.
Umar had warned that the country was only a few days away from a complete lockdown so people must follow SOPs to stem the surge of COVID-19.
