Punjab govt 'flexes muscles' to strictly enforce curbs in 15 Covid high-risk districts

All divisional commissioners and regional police officers (RPOs) were issued necessray directives in this regard.

The instructions were issued during a meeting chaired by provincial Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid and Chief Secretary Punjab. New restrictions have been imposed in 15 high-risk districts of Punjab in the light of the NCOC guidelines.

These districts include Lahore, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Multan, Khanewal, Mianwali, Sargodha, Khushab, Sheikhupura, Bahawalpur, Gujranwala, Rahim Yar Khan, Gujrat, Sialkot and Bhakkar. The meeting reviewed the corona pandemic situation, health facilities for patients and vaccination targets.

Speaking at the meeting, Dr Yasmin Rashid said the implementation of SOPs was essential to curb the spread of corona.

She noted that the next 15 to 20 days were crucial in controlling the fourth wave of the pandemic. She said that 88 per cent of corona patients admitted to hospitals were unvaccinated, adding that the spread of the virus could be prevented only through vaccination and precautionary measures.

The Chief Secretary said that in the light of the decisions of the NCOC, the restrictions have been tightened in the high-risk cities.

He said that protection of health and lives of the people was of utmost importance to the government and action should be taken against those who are not wearing masks and maintaining social distance at public places.

The CS also lauded the Health Department and administrative officers for successfully achieving the vaccination targets. He said that implementation of SOPs in the markets was the responsibility of the traders' organizations and in case of any violation, the shops should be sealed.

He also issued instructions regarding sending the home department the reports about the actions taken over SOPs’ violations.

The meeting was briefed that the vaccination process is going on successfully in the province and an average of 764,000 people are being vaccinated daily. The door-to-door vaccination campaign is underway in eight districts and revised targets have been fixed for them for the month of September.

The meeting was attended by the secretaries of health department, commissioner Lahore and officers concerned while all the divisional commissioners and RPOs participated through video link.