Coronavirus

Public asked to adhere to advisory on precautions

By Our correspondent

LAHORE:All stakeholders in society would have to play their role in efforts to combat coronavirus, besides strictly adhering to the advisory on precautionary measures so that every citizen could be saved from the disease.

These views were expressed by Punjab Chief Secretary Major (r) Azam Suleman Khan and Provincial Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid while chairing an emergency meeting on coronavirus at Camp Office here on Sunday.

The meeting was attended by Additional Chief Secretary Home Momin Agha, Inspector General of Police Punjab Shoaib Dastgir, secretaries of health and food departments, Lahore and Bahwalpur division commissioners whereas all other divisional commissioners, deputy commissioners, regional police officers and district police officers joined the meeting through video conferencing.

Additional Chief Secretary Home Momin Agha told the meeting that Section 144 had been imposed for three weeks across the province to prohibit hoarding and profiteering of hand sanitizers, opening all private and public educational institutes, marriage/banquet halls and marquees, holding examinations, religious congregation, public gatherings, and sports festivals.

The chief secretary (CS) directed that all educational institutes would be kept closed and presence of teaching staff there would not be allowed as well. The meeting decided to close all parks, zoos and recreational places for public. It was also decided that buses, which brought pilgrims from Iran and other areas, would be disinfected. The relatives of the pilgrims would be given awareness about the precautionary measures through videos and help of Ulema would be sought for the purpose.

All the divisional commissioners were asked to allocate one hospital in each division for treatment of coronavirus patients and make arrangements for quarantine and isolation there.

Dr Yasmin Rashid suggested providing kits to private labs by the government to give people the facility of coronavirus test at affordable rate. She maintained that the Health Department had established a helpline 1033 to provide information to general public.

The IG told the meeting that his force was standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the administration. ‘‘Our Jawans would not budge an inch in the hour of need,’’ he added. He briefed the Health Minister and CS that training sessions in police training centres and departmental promotion exams had been cancelled throughout the province and parades of jawans had been banned in all police lines.

He mentioned that lectures for jawans to enhance awareness about coronavirus were continuing under supervision of health experts in police lines. CCPO Lahore Zulfiqar Hameed told the meeting that a quarantine centre for police employees was being established at Kala Shah Kaku.

Issuing directions to officers, the CS said that wedding ceremonies within the boundary walls of houses were allowed. The meeting also decided to take stern action against the hoarders of food items, besides launching a media campaign to create awareness among people about coronavirus so that citizens could save themselves from this disease by following the precautionary measures.