In press release, organization says ‘restrictive measures’ will be imposed in listed cities to curb spread of virus
The National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) on Monday listed 20 cities across Pakistan as potential COVID-19 “hotspots” that may require the enforcement of “necessary restrictive measures” to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.
According to a press release issued by the NCOC after a meeting in Islamabad, the government will use its “testing, tracing and quarantining (TTQ)” strategy to isolate these hotspots. The TTQ strategy includes ramping up COVID-19 testing, followed by rapid tracing of all contacts of confirmed positive patients, and effective quarantining of positive and suspected cases.
The following 20 cities have been identified by the NCOC as potential COVID-19 hotspots:
- Karachi
- Lahore
- Quetta
- Peshawar
- Rawalpindi
- Islamabad
- Faisalabad
- Multan
- Gujranawala
- Swat
- Hyderabad
- Sukkur
- Sialkot
- Gujrat
- Ghotki
- Larkana
- Khairpur
- Dera Ghazi Khan
- Malakand
- Mardan
The NCOC’s list follows Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid announcing that the provincial government would be imposing a two-week lockdown in certain areas of Lahore from midnight tomorrow (12 a.m. on June 17).
That move came just two days after Prime Minister Imran Khan ruled out a sweeping lockdown in the provincial capital after the government had proposed one in light of rapidly rising virus cases there.
The premier, instead, said the government would enforce selective lockdowns as part of its TTQ strategy in areas where clusters of the virus were found, adding strict implementation of SOPs would be enforced and violators punished.