Legal action to be taken against violators of anti-coronavirus SOPs: Punjab CM

LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar announced on Sunday that the authorities will take legal action against those found involved in violations of the standard operating procedures (SOPs) against coronavirus, ARY News reported.

CM Usman Buzdar said that the provincial government is adopting policies to cope with the pandemic under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan. The federal government took uniform decisions after consulting all stakeholders without wasting time, added Buzdar.

“We have to strictly follow the precautionary measures to curb the spread of coronavirus and the provincial government will take necessary steps to secure the lives of its citizens.”

“Legal action will be taken against the violators of SOPs. The government is focused to prevent the nationals from facing financial crisis and the pandemic at the same time. Those launching criticism against the effective strategies of the government are completely unaware of the ground realities.”

The chief minister censured the opposition leaders over politicising the issue of the pandemic which was tantamount to risking the lives of nationals.

He appealed the citizens to wear face masks and avoid leaving their homes unnecessarily and directed the traders to strictly follow all precautionary measures. CM Buzdar said that the cooperation of the citizens is necessary to stop the spread of the virus.

Law Minister Punjab Raja Basharat said that the best defense against coronavirus was to follow the standard operating procedures (SOPs) laid out by the government.

The minister said that people acted irresponsibly during Eid when the lockdown restrictions were relaxed.

He added that the country’s current coronavirus surge is due to the careless attitude of the masses towards coronavirus which may prove to be detrimental to Pakistan’s fight against coronavirus.

Raja Basharat also said that if people continue to disregard SOPs on coronavirus then the government will be forced to take a strict approach against violators.

Punjab reported 2,514 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of infections across the province to 52,601, according to the statistics provided by the Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department on Sunday.

A spokesperson for the department said, 31 more people died from coronavirus in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of fatalities to 969 in Punjab province.

Of the new 2,514 cases, Lahore reported 1331 new Covid-19 infections.

The number of people recovering from the disease has risen to 17,560, said the spokesperson.

It must be noted that the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Pakistan has jumped to 139,230 after the detection of record 6,825 new infections in the past 24 hours.

According to the latest data released by the National Command and Operation Center, the death toll from COVID-19 in the country has reached 2,632 with 81 more virus-related deaths reported in the last 24 hours.

According to NCOC, 51,518 cases have been detected in Sindh, 52,601 in Punjab, 17,450 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 8,028 in Balochistan, 7,934 in Islamabad, 604 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and 1095 in Gilgit Baltistan.

A total of 6,825 new cases were detected when 29,546 new tests were conducted during this period.