CM Buzdar urges citizens to follow COVID-19 SOPs

So far, 2429 patients have died of corona in Punjab

LAHORE (Dunya News) – Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar on Wednesday urged the citizens to follow coronavirus SOPs as the number of patients is increasing due to violation of SOPs.

In a statement, the CM said that the movement will be restricted through smart lockdown in affected areas adding that nine corona patients have died; 502 confirmed cases have been reported and 11388 were tested during the last 24 hours.

So far, 2429 patients have died of corona in Punjab while the number of active patients has increased to 7730. As much as 1700838 have been tested while 97672 have been recovered out of a total of 107831 patients, the CM concluded.

Earlier today, the Punjab government had recommended to keep marriage halls open across the province with strict implementation of updated coronavirus Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

As per details, the committee has recommended to reduce function time to only two hours with food being provided in disposable boxes.

Marriage halls will also display number of guests allowed in the hall after 50 percent reduction in the capacity while all the guests will be required to wear face masks.

Mian Aslam Iqbal has summoned a meeting of organizations of businessmen where they will be asked to ensure mandatory wearing of face masks. Punjab will also present its recommendations in NCOC meeting, he said.

On the other hand, the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) has decided to immediately close cinemas, theaters and shrines in the wake of the second wave of coronavirus.

Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special initiatives Asad Umar chaired the NCOC meeting and remarked that immediate measures are required to save lives. COVID-19 cases have increased by almost three times, the minister said.