Pakistan to review 'school opening modalities' tomorrow amid surge in COVID-19 cases

Given the alarming surge in coronavirus cases across the country in the past week, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Monday decided to revisit its "school opening modalities" in its next morning session.

The NCOC meeting was chaired by Federal Minister for Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives Asad Umar.

The meeting discussed updates from the provinces on rising positivity and corresponding actions, vaccination progress, and national vaccine strategy.

The officials also considered deferring the opening up of cinemas, indoor weddings, and dine-in restaurants, which were expected to reopen from March 15. However, a decision on this has not been announced yet.

The meeting also reviewed the rising positivity trend prevailing across the country and expressed its concerns over public complacency in following non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs or alternate measures to treat the disease other than medical treatment).

The forum directed the provincial administrations to ensure strict enforcement of NPIs at the grassroots level to contain the disease spread as slackness in adhering to safety guidelines would trigger another outbreak.

The meeting was attended by National Coordinator Lt Geb Hamood Uz Zaman Khan. Provincial representatives participated in the meeting through video link.

Last month, the NCOC had decided to loosen some of the coronavirus restrictions that it earlier put in place.

The NCOC had added that the decisions could be reviewed again in view of increased disease prevalence, whenever deemed necessary.