School closures hang in balance as NCOC discusses new Covid restrictions

On Jan 17, 2022

The National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) is scheduled to meet today in Islamabad to finalize the government’s response regarding the possible closure of schools and other educational institutes amid a sharp surge in Covid cases.

The meeting comes as 4,340 new COVID-19 cases were detected in Pakistan in the last 24 hours, taking the tally of active cases to 35,884.

With the death of seven more, the overall death toll rose to 29,019, the NCOC’s data showed Monday morning.

The forum had convened a meeting and invited the federal and provincial health and education ministers to suggest a new set of guidelines to deal with the worsening coronavirus situation in the country over the weekend.

A new set of SOPs is to be put forth in today’s meeting, with its focus on schools and the education sector as a whole, public gatherings, marriage ceremonies, indoor/outdoor dining, and the transport sector.

The meeting will discuss ways and means to prevent the spread of coronavirus in schools, colleges, and universities.

The decision to extensively engage with provinces, especially with the Sindh government, was made in the last NCOC meeting on Saturday for necessary measures to tackle the rising coronavirus numbers.

While the entire country has been badly hit by the fifth wave of coronavirus, the situation in Karachi is growing graver with every passing day as the positivity ratio of the city climbed close to 40% a day earlier, with a further rise expected this week.

‘Karachi expected to report 50% positivity ratio’
The federal health officials said that they expected the situation in Karachi to change in the coming week as the positivity ratio might hit 50%, leading to an increase in hospitalisations.

The officials also said that daily cases were expected to shoot up to 6,000.

However, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah has said that the decision to impose a lockdown and close educational institutions will be taken in line with the NCOC’s recommendations.