The National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) has decided to immediately close down all cinemas, theaters, and shrines across Pakistan following the second spike in coronavirus infections.
The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by the Federal Minister for Planning and Development, Asad Umar, on Wednesday. The forum also recommended banning gatherings of more than 500 people.
During the meeting, Umar remarked that COVID-19 cases have surged by almost three times since October, and called for immediate measures to save lives.
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The meeting included a briefing on the implementation of nationwide standard operating procedures (SOPs) and the increasing number of cases in sixteen big cities, in addition to an analysis of the situation at educational institutes.
Prior to the meeting, Minister Umar tweeted that the NCOC has recommended the banning of all large public gatherings. His tweet read: “Rapid increase in positivity requires urgent steps to save lives & livelihoods. Since mid-October, when NCC first considered the NCOC recommendation to ban large public gatherings daily cases have nearly tripled”.
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The minister also called on politicians to direct the nation to follow health guidelines. “The national political leadership across the political spectrum needs to demonstrate leadership to send a message to the entire nation for taking preventive steps and follow SOPs,” he said.
As per NCOC data, the novel virus has infected 1,708 people within the last 24 hours, pushing the national caseload to 348,184. Fatalities across Pakistan have jumped to 7,021 with 21 new deaths.
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