Islamabad: The National Command and Operation Centre which is the central body fighting COVID-19 in Pakistan, has completed 500 days of coordination against the disease.
Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari has termed the NCOC a successful model of national and provincial coordination amongst all stakeholders enabling Pakistan to implement national policy initiated by PM to deal with COVID-19 pandemic.
In another tweet, Chairman of the National Command & Operation Centre (NCOC), Federal Minister Asad Umar, shared a video that marked completion of 500 days of the NCOC. It goes to the credit of the Pakistani nation that we succeeded in restricting the virus and the world endorsed it, said Umar.
More than 82,000 active cases of COVID-19
Pakistan on Sunday reported 82,076 active cases of COVID-19 while the country’s positivity rate is still above 8 per cent.
According to the NCOC, 68 people died while 4,455 cases of COVID-19 were reported during the last 24 hours against 55,002 tests conducted for COVID-19.
UK review likely
The British government is likely to review its decision of placing Pakistan in the ‘Red List’.
The British government is weighing its options after Pakistan and British MPs took up the matter with the British authorities conveying their dismay that the government did not take into account the global appreciation of Pakistan’s strategy against COVID-19 while deciding to keep Pakistan in the ‘red list.’
Recently, the UK government moved a number of countries from the ‘red list’ to ‘amber list,’ however, Pakistan continues to stay in the red list.
There are positive vibes from 10-Downing Street, said a senior official of the Foreign Office, adding the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson in a recent conversation with a Pakistani delegation at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst hinted there were chances that Pakistan might be moved to the amber list in the next few weeks.
A day earlier, Pakistani and UK parliamentarians and experts in a webinar discussed the COVID-19 situation in Pakistan and the measures taken by the Pakistan government to effectively control and restrict the virus in the country.
Chairman of the NCOC Federal Minister Asad Umar also participated in the webinar and later disclosed in a tweet that he had shared data regarding COVID disease surveillance and explained Pakistan’s strategy for COVID-19 response. “Will engage with the UK govt to try and ensure that red list decisions are based on science not politics,” said Asad Umar in his post.
The UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps had announced on Wednesday that according to the revised travel advisory, the countries in the amber list were not required to observe mandatory hotel quarantine while those in the red list must observe a mandatory 10-day hotel quarantine, which will now cost GBP2,285 (Dhs11,647) which is GBP500 (Dhs2,548) higher than it was previously.
