NCOC issues fresh SOPs for marriage halls amid COVID-19 wave

ISLAMABAD: National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Tuesday issued revised standard operating procedures (SOPs) for marriage halls after the owners refused to accept previous restrictions amid fears of a second wave of COVID-19 pandemic, ARY NEWS reported.

The NCOC issued a handout to provincial chief secretaries and health secretaries renewing guidelines for the marriage halls, to be enforced across 20 major cities of the country from November 20.

As per the fresh SOPs, outdoor marriage activities would be allowed in 16 cities and upto 1000 guests could attend the ceremony.

While the indoor and outdoor arrangements could be made for marriage ceremonies in four other cities. For indoor marriage ceremonies, only 300 guests would be allowed to attend the event at a time while 500 guests could attend the ceremony in an outdoor arrangement.

The SOPs for the marriage halls for four cities would come into force from November 13.

It is pertinent to mention here that the marriage hall owners on Saturday rejected the ban imposed on indoor gatherings at wedding halls by National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) from November 20.

The wedding hall owners summoned a consultative meeting to devise a strategy following the govt order banning indoor weddings from the third week of the ongoing month.

The owners demanded the government to review its decision and maintained that all Covid-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs) being fully implemented in the marriage halls.

“There is no ban on public gatherings where people are openly violating SOPs,” the hall owners were of the view and added that the government was unnecessary making problems for them despite the implementation of SOPs.