• Minister criticises Shehbaz for Swat public meeting
• Meeting of chief secretaries called to devise 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 in the wake of severe violations of standard operating procedures (SOPs), Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar on Monday criticised Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif for holding a public meeting in Swat.

On the other hand, the NCOC has decided to call a special meeting of chief secretaries to discuss ways to increase the pace of vaccination. With the arrival of Moderna vaccine, the number of vaccination centres has also been raised from 49 to 59 to inoculate people intending 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 stop Covid if he was in power. Least he can do is not do jalsas with thousands of people as he did in swat yesterday. Or is he only willing to do something positive for Pakistan if he is in power?”

Earlier during the NCOC meeting, chaired by Mr Umar, the participants expressed their concerns over severe violation of SOPs.

The forum was informed that violations had been observed in restaurants, indoor gymnasiums, wedding halls, public transport, markets, tourist places as well as in other sectors.

In view of the situation, the meeting warned that curbs could be re-imposed if people continued to ignore health guidelines.

The NCOC also decided to call a special meeting in which all chief secretaries would be in attendance to devise 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 people at wedding halls, indoor gymnasiums and elsewhere. Citizens were therefore urged to ensure that their record was included in the National Immunisation Management System at the time of vaccination.

The meeting was further informed that the number of centres where Moderna vaccine was being given had been increased to facilitate people who want to travel abroad. There are now 15 centres in Punjab, 14 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 10 in Sindh, six in Gilgit-Baltistan, five each in Islamabad and Azad Kashmir and four centres in Balochistan where the American vaccine was being administered.

Meanwhile, the meeting was told that the arrival of 3,000 Afghans studying in Pakistan had started.

They were being tested at the time of arrival and those having the virus were being quarantined for 10 days. Vaccines will be administered to them after their quarantine period completes, the participants were informed.

On the other hand, the NCOC data showed that 19 patients died and 1,347 more got infected in 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 ventilator.-

Published in Dawn, July 6th, 2021