Over 164,000 people vaccinated against COVID-19 in a single day.

ISLAMABAD -- The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Tuesday decided to formulate monitoring teams at federal, provincial and district levels to ensure implementation of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) from May 8-16.

The forum decided that during the period all business and shops would remain closed with few exceptions like food outlets, grocery stores, paramedics, petrol pumps and bakeries etc. The forum was informed that there would be a complete ban on tourism for both locals and outsiders.

All tourist resorts, formal and informal picnic spots, public parks, shopping malls, all hotels and restaurants in or around tourist or picnic spots would remain closed.

Travel nodes leading to tourist or picnic spots both in hilly spots of Northern Areas and sea views or beaches in south would also be closed. However, locals especially the people of Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir would be allowed to travel back home.

The NCOC session was chaired by Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar and co-chaired by National Coordinator Lieutenant General Hamood Uz Zaman Khan. Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on National Health Services, Dr Faisal Sultan was also present in the meeting.

Meanwhile, Minister for Planning Asad Umar has said it is the first time that over one hundred and sixty four thousand people were vaccinated against COVID-19 in a single day on Monday. In a tweet on Tuesday, he said the vaccination process of people aged forty and above was also started yesterday across the country.

Also, Asad Umar on Tuesday said that a significant improvement in the compliance of Coronavirus Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) has been witnessed since the stronger enforcement measures including military deployment took place in the last week.

Taking to Twitter, Umar, who also heads the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), said that since the stronger enforcement measures including the military deployment, the average compliance has doubled from 34 percent on April 25th to 68 percent on May 3. 'Significant improvement seen in SOPs compliance since the stronger enforcement measures including military deployment took place. National average compliance has doubled from 34% on 25th Apr to 68% on 3rd May,' he said.

He also believed that there is a need to sustain and build on this...