Rising Covid-19 cases: Punjab imposes micro-smart lockdown at several hotspots

LAHORE: With a view to curb rising coronavirus cases, the Punjab government has imposed micro-smart lockdown for 14 days at several virus hotspots across the province. The provincial government has sealed 830 places across the province after 1416 cases of Covid-19 were reported out of 3,332 residents of the areas. The micro-smart lockdown has been imposed in 435 spots in Lahore, 37 in Bahawalpur, 35 in Bhakkar, 17 in Dera Ghazi Khan, 34 in Faisalabad and 14 spots in Gujranwala district. Further, 44 places in Multan, 29 in Gujrat, 16 in Sahiwal, 24 in Sargodha have also been sealed under the micro-smart lockdown.

On the other hand, Punjab has reported 283 fresh Covid-19 cases and three deaths during the last 24 hours taking the provincial tally to 104,554 cases and 2365 deaths. As many as 8585 tests were conducted during the last 24 hours. With recovery of 16 more people, the number of recovered patients has reached to 97,471.

The Punjab CM had warned that due to violating corona SOPs, the number of patients are increasing day by day, therefore, precautionary measures are necessary for saving lives and health. He said the decision for closing the markets at 10 pm has been taken with consultation. More strict measures can be taken in case of not following the corona SOPs in Bazaars and markets.

Moreover, Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid, while receiving six bio safety cabinets donated by the World Health Organization (WHO), said: "We are grateful to the WHO for giving away bio safety cabinets which will significantly enhance our capacity to perform corona and other tests a great deal. All of these bio safety cabinets will be installed at different BSL-3 Labs in Punjab.

The testing capacity is increased by around 600 tests a cabinet apiece in a day. Currently, 16 BSL Labs are performing corona tests in public sector and overall more than 50 labs in Punjab have the capacity to perform corona tests. The WHO has always been supportive in challenges.

The government is implementing corona SOPs in accordance with the WHO guidelines to control virus transmission. The second wave of corona pandemic is much more severe globally than the first wave. Europe is re-imposing lockdowns as winter comes. We have already scaled up the capacity to fight epidemics and pandemics in Punjab.

Our facilities are well prepared, our doctors have learnt so much and we have developed a capacity to fight the pandemic."

WHO Representative Dr Palitha Gunarathna Mahipala said that the WHO will continue to support Pakistan. He appreciated the Punjab Health minister for taking measures to control the pandemic. Secretary Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department Captain Usman Younis (retd) said Punjab has intensified the process of contact tracing in the wake of increasing number of cases. He said there is strong potential of increase in the number of cases due to Smog factor in Lahore; hence, people must be especially vigilant.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020