The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on

Wednesday, after continuous warnings of rising Covid-19 cases

across the country, made it compulsory for all citizens to wear a
face mask when stepping out of their homes.

The directive comes a day after Pakistan's active cases surpassed the 11,000
mark and Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr
Faisal Sultan announced that the second wave of the deadly virus had
started in the country.

Today's NCOC meeting, presided over by Planning and Development

Minister Asad Umar, decided that wearing a face mask will be mandatory in
both government and private sector offices.

Later in a tweet, Umar said NCOC has approved the use of antigen testing
in addition to the PCR tests being carried out.

"This is part of a strategy to increase the level of testing. The symptomatic

cases will all still be administered PCR tests. The decision is in line with the
guidelines issued by the World Health Organisation," he said.

According to a statement by NCOC, all provinces have been asked to ensure

that people wear face masks and adhere to standard operating procedures
(SOPs), particularly in bazaars, shopping malls, public transport and
restaurants.

At present, 4,374 lockdowns have been imposed across 11 cities in the

country; Quetta, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Multan, Peshawar, Islamabad,
Hyderabad, Mirpur, Gilgit, Muzaffarabad and Karachi.

During a media briefing on Tuesday, SAPM Sultan said the number of

Covid-19 cases was increasing every day. “A few weeks ago we were getting
400 to 500 cases per day, but now it has increased to 700 to 750 cases.
Moreover, the mortality rate has also increased. Another ratio which is
considered is percentage positivity — the number of positive cases in
samples of 100 — that remained less than two per cent, but now it has
reached close to 3pc,” he said.

Out of 1,884 ventilators allocated for Covid-19 patients, 93 were occupied

on Tuesday. There was no patient on ventilators in Azad Kashmir, Gilgit-
Baltistan and Balochistan.

Spokesperson for the Ministry of National Health Services Sajid Shah,

while talking to Dawn, had said that if the number of Covid-19 cases
continued to increase, the government would have no option but to take
unpopular decisions due to which the country’s economy would be affected.
A similar warning was issued by NCOC last week that if people continued to
flout health guidelines, it would have no choice but to order closure of
services again.

Declaring the transport sector, markets, marriage halls, restaurants and

public gatherings as high-risk areas, the centre had advised provinces to
focus on them and take steps to prevent the spread of the virus.

Corona in Pakistan
The novel coronavirus was first detected in China in December last year,
after which it spread to other countries. Pakistan closed its borders and
took a number of steps to stop the spread. The first case of the virus was
reported in Pakistan in the last week of February.

On March 13, a meeting of the National Security Committee, comprising

top civil and military leadership, was held to discuss the crisis after it was
declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation.

Prime Minister Imran Khan, who had chaired the meeting, directed the
authorities to devise a comprehensive strategy to check the spread of the
disease.

A lockdown was announced on March 16 and a number of industries,

educational institutions, restaurants and marriage halls were closed.

The National Disaster Management Authority was involved to ensure

availability of medical equipment and health-related supplies at the
earliest.

After the construction industry was opened on Aug 7, the National

Coordination Committee on Covid-19 lifted restrictions on tourism on Aug
8 and on restaurants and transport sector from Aug 10. It also gave a
timetable for opening other sectors, including educational institutions and
marriage halls.

On October 23, however, it was reported that the average positivity rate of
Covid-19 cases rose 40pc over four days.

A jump was seen in hospital admissions and a spike in the number of daily
deaths.

On Oct 27, SAPM Sultan formally announced that the second wave had
started.

An analysis of the fatality rate last week showed that Pakistan’s figure stood
at 2.06 per cent compared to the global 2.72pc and men accounted for 71pc
of the total deaths. "Of these, 76pc are over the age of 50,” the NCOC had
said.