NDMA directs provinces' chief secretaries: Conversion of 3&4 star hotels into quarantine centres in the offing

Following the surge in coronavirus cases countrywide the government is mulling to convert all the three and four star hotels into quarantine centers. According to an official communiqué sent by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to the chief secretaries of all the provinces and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, the authority suggested the provincial governments to vacate all three to four star hotels, and convert into quarantine centers.
The letter written to the provincial governments said in order to take effective measures to effectively deal with the coronavirus outbreak, the provincial governments through the deputy commissioners could easily implement the plan.
According to the NDMA letter, the following measures would be made on priority basis as three or four star hotels would be vacated and converted into quarantine centers. "The possession of regular tenants will be ceased, till the emergency exists whereas one person, one room policy, will be adopted for each traveller and suspected case to be kept in isolation in the quarantine," it further said.
The official communiqué further stated that NDMA Chairman Lieutenant General Muhammad Afzal had also directed the officials concerned to share details of quarantine centers with the authority on immediate basis so that the number of quarantines established should be reckoned to take further actions.
The letter was sent to all chief secretaries of provinces and State of Azad Jammu and Kashmir along with its copies sent to the Minister of National Health Services, secretary to the prime minister, secretary Ministry of Interior, secretary Ministry of National Health Services, chief commissioner Islamabad, home secretaries and health secretaries of all the provinces, and the AJK.
Meanwhile, the total number of novel coronavirus cases surged to 384 in Pakistan with two confirmed deaths. The deceased persons belong to KP's Mardan and Hangu areas. Pakistan on Thursday reported new coronavirus cases in Sindh and Balochistan, officials confirmed, taking the national tally up to 384.
The number of affected patients in Sindh stood at 217, including those who had been cured. In Balochistan, the total number of cases now number 45, 23 in KP, 16 in AJK and Gilgit Baltistan, 78 in Punjab, and eight in federal capital.