NCOC visit: PM briefed over govt's strategy to deal with COVID-19 crisis

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has paid a visit to the National Command and Control Centre (NCOC) where he was briefed over the federal government’s strategic response to deal with the COVID-19 crisis, ARY News reported on Thursday.

PM Imran Khan chaired a high-level session during his visit to the National Command and Control Centre (NCOC) which was attended by chief ministers of all provinces via video link. Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Director-General Inter-Services Intelligence (DG-ISI) Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed, federal ministers including Fakhar Imam, Asad Umar and Shibli Faraz have also attended the session.

Interior Minister Ijaz Shah, special assistants including Dr Zafar Mirza, Moeed Yousuf and Lt Gen Retd Asim Saleem Bajwa, as well as Director-General (DG) Operations and Planning of NCOC Maj Gen Asif Mehmood Goraya were also in attendance.

Read: Smart lockdown to curb spread of coronavirus: Asad Umar

The premier was briefed by Asad Umar and Asif Mehmood Goraya over the latest situation of the pandemic and the state of facilities at the hospitals across the country. He was also apprised of the federal government’s steps to stop the spread of coronavirus.

The participants of the meeting agreed to strictly implement the standard operating procedures (SOPs) designed to curb the infections besides taking more steps to ensure uninterrupted medical supplies including medicines, oxygen and beds to the hospitals.

PM Imran Khan appealed the nationals to pay special attention to elderly citizens and sugar patients which were highly vulnerable to the virus.

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He paid rich tribute to the health workers who have sacrificed their lives while fighting the pandemic on the front line. PM Khan also praised the efforts of media to spread awareness regarding the virus among nationals.

COVID-19 statistics

The countrywide tally of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases has jumped to 160,118 after 5,358 new infections were detected in the country over the past 24 hours while 118 more people succumbed to the deadly disease.

So far, 60,138 cases have been detected in Punjab, 59,983 in Sindh, 19,613 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 8,794 in Balochistan, 9,637 in Islamabad, 740 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and 1,213 in Gilgit Baltistan, according to data released by the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC).

With 118 more Covid-19 related fatalities recorded over the past 24 hours, the number of people dying from the disease in the country has soared to 3,093. A total of 5,358 new cases were detected when 31,500 tests were conducted during this period.

The number of people defeating the deadly virus has reached 59,215. So far, 982,012 tests have been conducted across the country.