Carelessness to cause curbs on Eid: Lockdown extended till May 9

ISLAMABAD: The National Coordination Committee (NCC) on Friday decided to further extend the lockdown till May 9, as it decided to launch the test, track and quarantine or smart lockdown system from Saturday.

Prime Minister Imran Khan announced a "track and trace system" for coronavirus cases which will be introduced throughout the country with the Inter-Services Intelligence's (ISI) help. Speaking to social media influencers and journalists, the prime minister said that the system will help in identifying areas where there were numerous coronavirus cases.

He said that the Centre has decided to extend the lockdown and provinces are free to take decision as necessary. "We will lockdown those areas where there are [numerous] coronavirus cases whereas business inother areas will be kept open," he said.

PM Imran said that no foreign country or global organisation had lent Pakistan money. "Our reserves have gone down, taxes have decreased and businesses have closed," he said, adding that Pakistan is facing severe hardships.

He said that Pakistan is about to start telemedicine and teleducation in the country. The prime minister stressed the need to fight the coronavirus with unity, saying that the pandemic had wreaked havoc around the world.

"The coronavirus is proving to be a test for the whole world," he said. "India, Bangladesh and countries in Africa are riddled with problems." Reiterating his support for a partial lockdown, PM Imran said that a complete shutdown of the country's businesses and economic activities will give rise to unemployment.

"We should not close businesses under the lockdown," he said. "We cannot say how long the coronavirus will last," he added. Meanwhile, Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar, who heads the National Command and Operation Centre told a news conference after the National Coordination Committee meeting that the system had already been tested through a pilot project and after fine tuning on the basis of its results, it was finalised and approved for implementation from Saturday. Prime Minister Imran Khan chaired the meeting.

Through this system, those already affected by the coronavirus would be accessed and also those, who were in contact with that person, and they would also be subjected to tests and the process afterwards. “The sooner, we will reach such people, the better it will be. And this way, we can effectively check the spread of the virus and also keep the livelihood running,” he said.

He said that it was decided about two weeks ago to take the matters forward and now the country had attained the national capability and prior to this, consultations were held with the chief secretaries, then provincial health ministers and followed by the chief ministers. And, it had been duly approved by the prime minister and the chief ministers.

The minister explained that the NCOC would manage and monitor it and afterwards, it would be implemented by the provinces down to tehsil level with information technology institutions having an important part to play in it. The system, he noted, would include the federal government’s civil and military institutions, which were part of it at the design level.

“While on the ground, complete support of the civil and military institutions will be available towards its implementation. This way, a complete national response has been devised,” he maintained.

He pointed out that during the last one week, it had been observed in certain parts of the country that precautionary measures were not followed properly but overall, the nation had shown change in its (social) lifestyle.

The minister said that the government was working on increasing number of testing laboratories and isolation wards to effectively contain the coronavirus. He added the meeting decided that there would be no loadshedding at the time of sehri and iftar and the Power Division would shortly issue a notification to this effect.

Greeting the nation on the occasion of Holy Month of Ramazan, he said that hopefully, the people would strictly follow the precautionary measures, already explained by the doctors and would also try not to cause any discomfort to others any way, what to talk of causing the virus spread.

The minister said that the Ramazan is the month of special blessings of Allah Almighty and the meeting noted that this month could be decisive one with regard to the virus and if the masses disciplined themselves as per the precautionary measures, then the situation would arise after Eid, wherein the government would further ease restrictions on earning livelihood. He added then a process could also start to return to normal live gradually.

However, he cautioned if carelessness is shown and precautionary measures are not followed, it might be likely for the government to impose more restrictions before Eid. The minister called the Ehsaas Cash Emergency Programme as historic and said the government had so far distributed Rs69 billion among 5.7 million families across the country.

Meanwhile, the Sindh government issued Ramadan guidelines for businesses operating in the province, making some allowances to help them resume partial activities. A meeting with Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah in the chair was held to review lockdown timings and finalise SOPs for businesses during the holy month.

According to the details, traders will be allowed to open shops from Monday to Thursday from 9-3pm, but for e-commerce and home delivery services only. It was also decided that grocery shops will continue to follow the lockdown timings, i.e. 8am-5pm.

However, the dairy milk shops have been given permission to operate from 8am-8pm “There will be complete lockdown after 5pm,” CM Murad Ali Shah said, adding “home delivery of cooked food is allowed from 5-10pm.”

The Home Department will issue a detailed SOP and a notification for businesses for the holy month, the chief minister said. "The federal government in consultation with provinces, Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and Islamabad at the National Coordination Committee (NCC) engaged with Ulema and the President of Pakistan" and formed consensus over a 20-point agreement on "conditionally conducting mandatory congregational prayers at mosques keeping in view COVID-19 situation," a statement said.

Furthermore, the sale of "samosa, pakora, jalaibi, fruit-chat, and such traditional iftar items" which attract a huge crowd cannot be sold in the markets. However, these items may be delivered through home delivery services, for which SOPs have already been issued.

"Any person found violating [the mentioned] instructions shall be liable for action in accordance with law as per section 4 of Sindh Epidemic Disease Control Act 2014," the statement added.

In Punjab, gatherings on Iftar were banned however, milk, yogurt shops to remain open during Ramazan. Deputy Information Secretary Pakistan People's Party Palwasha Khan in a reaction to Prime Minister Imran Khan's address to the social media persons has said that Imran Khan created a brigade to abuse and bad mouth his political opposition.

Palwasha Khan said that Imran Khan does not have tolerance for criticism or difference of opinion. She said that prime minister has a twisted mindset and is not ready to even take the advice of doctors who are crying for strict lockdown to contain COVID-19. Imran Khan is so prejudice that he opposed lockdown because in this regard the chief minister Sindh took the lead.

If the pandemic spreads then Imran Khan will be responsible, Palwasha said. Doctors advice has to be respected if we have to combat this pandemic. Palwasha Khan demanded of the federal government PPEs and other safety kits to the doctors of every province.