• Minister criticizes Shehbaz for Swat public meeting
• Meeting of chief secretaries called to plan a strategy to quicken vaccination pace
• Portal launched to verify vaccination certificates
ISLAMABAD: While the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) warned of re-imposing restrictions within the wake of severe violations of ordinary operating procedures (SOPs), Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar on Monday criticized Leader of Opposition within the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif for holding a public meeting in Swat.
On the opposite hand, the NCOC has decided to call a special meeting of chief secretaries to debate ways to extend the pace of vaccination. With the arrival of the Moderna vaccine, the amount of vaccination centers has also been raised from 49 to 59 to inoculate people meaning to travel abroad.
In a tweet, Asad Umar, who also heads the NCOC, said: “Shahbaz Sharif in his NA speech lectured about amazing things he would have done to prevent Covid if he was in power. The least he can do isn’t do jalsas with thousands of individuals as he did in swat yesterday. Or is he only willing to try to do something positive for Pakistan if he’s in power?”
Earlier during the NCOC meeting, chaired by Mr. Umar, the participants expressed their concerns over severe violations of SOPs.
The forum was informed that violations had been observed in restaurants, indoor gymnasiums, wedding halls, conveyance, markets, tourist places also as in other sectors.
In view of things, the meeting warned that curbs might be re-imposed if people continued to ignore health guidelines.
The NCOC also decided to call a special meeting during which all chief secretaries would be attending to plan a mechanism to enforce SOPs and expedite the vaccination process.
The forum was told that a portal had been launched to verify vaccination certificates of individuals at wedding halls, indoor gymnasiums et al. . Citizens were therefore urged to make sure that their record was included within the National Immunisation Management System at the time of vaccination.
The meeting was further informed that the number of centers where Moderna vaccine was being given had been increased to facilitate people that want to travel abroad. There are now 15 centers in Punjab, 14 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 10 in Sindh, six in Gilgit-Baltistan, five each in Islamabad and Azad Kashmir, and 4 centers in Balochistan where the American vaccine was being administered.
They were being tested at the time of arrival and people having the virus were being quarantined for 10 days. Vaccines are going to be administered to them after their quarantine period completes, the participants were informed.
On the opposite hand, the NCOC data showed that 19 patients died and 1,347 more got infected during a single day.
The number of active cases was 33,299 as of July 5 out of which 2,158 were admitted to hospitals. As many as 198 patients were on ventilators.-
