Govt mulls lockdown in areas violating SOPs.

Byline: Amir Wasim

ISLAMABAD -- Amid rising cases of Covid-19 and after getting reports of continued violations of standard operating procedures (SOPs) and guidelines for prevention of coronavirus by people from almost all parts of the country, the government has now decided to go for a stricter lockdown, but only at places where such violations will be more flagrant.

This was stated by Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz while talking to Dawn after attending a high-level meeting presided over by Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday to review the prevailing Covid-19 situation and implementation of the SOPs and guidelines at public places after its last week's decision to ease about one-and-a-half months' lockdown across the country.

During the past 24 hours, 30 people died from coronavirus, taking the overall death toll to 791. In the last one day, the total number of confirmed cases increased from 35,384 to 36,788, with 758 new cases reported from Sindh, 333 from Punjab, 63 from Islamabad, 198 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 71 from Balochistan, seven from Gilgit-Baltistan and three from Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

The absence of Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan Alyani from the meeting was conspicuous. An official handout issued by the Prime Minister Office said the meeting was attended by Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar and KP Chief Minister Mehmood Khan through video links, besides Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar, Minister for Economic Affairs Hammad Azhar, Shibli Faraz, National Food Security Minister Fakhar Imam, Adviser to the PM on Finance Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Special Assistant to the PM (SAPM) on Health Dr Zafar Mirza, SAPM on Information retired Lt Gen Asim Bajwa, SAPM on Commerce Razaq Dawood, National Security Adviser Moeed Yousuf, PM's Focal Person on Covid-19 Dr Faisal and National Disaster Management Authority Chairman Lt Gen Mohammad Afzal.

Chief ministers of Sindh and Balochistan absent from meeting chaired by PM; 30 deaths and over 1,400 cases reported in a single day

'We are giving a margin to the people because markets and places have been opened after a long time,' Shibli Faraz said, admitting that they had got reports that people and shopkeepers in many areas were not following the government's SOPs and guidelines.

'We are closely monitoring the situation. We will be taking decisions very shortly as to which areas have to be [completely] closed,'...