THE Punjab government has decided to send recommendations
to the federal government for tightening lockdown measures in Lahore in a bid to curbing the growing number of Covid-19 cases. The decision was taken during a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Usman Buzdar and the recommendations envisage separate strategy for the provincial capital where situation is critical due to flouting of standard operation procedures (SOPs).
It is not yet clear what model the provincial government has proposed for Lahore but the situation is really getting out of control necessitating a change of policy. It may be pointed out that situation in Rawalpindi was also alarming and measures being contemplated to check the spread of virus in Lahore may also be replicated in the city as well. Apart from major cities and towns, the situation is also worsening even in rural areas of Punjab, which are reporting more and more cases with the passage of every day due to large-scale movement of people and careless attitude towards safety precautions. The worst aspect of the entire situation is that doctors and paramedical staff of almost all medical facilities of the province are also contracting the virus and resultantly many of such facilities are being sealed. Punjab Government, in collaboration with National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), has become proactive in fighting the virus and providing necessary facilities to the affected people. NDMA will set up a hospital in Punjab with 300 high dependency unit (HDU) beds while the provincial government will also provide 300 HDU beds to different hospitals across the province. However, more important is to check the spread of the virus and this should be done on a priority basis even if it means re-imposition of some of the restrictions.
