PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has asked the authorities concerned to make preparations to deal with the anticipated second wave of Covid-19 in winter season to prevent and minimise losses of lives.

According to a statement, he said that there should be effective mechanism through close coordination amongst the different departments to make sure that pandemic did not cause problems.

Chairing a meeting of health department on Tuesday, the chief minister said that all the departments should join hands to cope with any emergency situation and safeguard people from the impending onset of the pandemic in the winter season.

The meeting reviewed the current situation of coronavirus in the province and the preparations of the government to deal with the possible outbreak of the virus.

Besides Additional Chief Secretary Shakeel Qadir, Finance Secretary Atif Rehman, Principal Secretary to CM Shahab Ali Shah, Health Secretary Imtiaz Hussain, Special Secretary of Health Dr Syed Farooq Jamil and other relevant officers attended the meeting.

The chief minister directed the high-ups of health department to ensure availability of all the required medicines and medical equipment in all the public sector hospitals of the province and enhance the overall testing capacities for suspected Covid-19 patients.

He also directed the relevant authorities to ensure strict implementation of SOPs in educational institutions to avoid the possible outbreak of the virus.

Expressing his satisfaction over the preparations of health department, the chief minister directed it to further improve the preparations and keep a vigilant eye on the situation.

He said that government was able to effectively deal the first wave of coronavirus. He added that in case of its second wave, the government was ready to deal with it more effectively.

Published in Dawn, October 7th, 2020