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ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed has said that the government has approved the deployment of the Pakistan Army in provinces and federal territories to enforce standard operating procedures (SOPs) for curbing the spread of the corvid-19.
In a video message on Sunday, Sheikh Rashid said as per the notification Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Kashmir, and Islamabad will avail the services of the Pakistan Army for implementation of Covid-19 SOPs “as per their need”.
The minister said Sindh had not opted to be part of the measure for now. Although, he said that a decision on military deployment in Sindh will be taken after consultation with the provincial government.
The personnel of the Pakistan Army would enforce strict COVID-19 SOPs along with civil administration, the minister maintained.
He said that the military has been given the task to enforce COVID SOPs in the wake of the worsening COVID-19 situation in India, where over 300,000 cases have been reported daily.
اسلام آباد۔ 25 اپریل
این سی سی کے COVID-19 وبا کے خلاف سول حکومت کی مدد کے لئے افواج پاکستان اور سول آرمڈ فورسز کی تعیناتی کے حوالے سے اہم اعلان۔ pic.twitter.com/Hw2SMsknVo
— Sheikh Rashid Ahmed (@ShkhRasheed) April 25, 2021
During the past 24 hours, Pakistan reported another 118 deaths and 5,611 cases from the coronavirus on Sunday as the government mulls on enforcing a lockdown in large cities.
This comes a day after the country reported the highest number of COVID-related deaths. Pakistan reported 157 deaths on Saturday, making it the country’s highest death toll since the pandemic began last year.
According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) data, 118 people died of COVID-19 in a single day, pushing the national tally to 17,117. As many as 5,611 new infections surfaced bringing a total number of cases to 795,627.
There were 55,611 samples were tested in the past day, bringing the total number to 11.5 million. The country’s overall positivity ratio of new cases has increased to 10.17%.
Earlier, PM Imran had called on the army to help the police and civil administration in implementing coronavirus SOPs. The PM warned that a complete lockdown will be imposed in the country if the COVID-19 situation does not improve.
Despite the drastic rise in coronavirus cases, the government is not implementing a complete lockdown across the country as it will affect the working class and business community, he said. PM Khan urged people to follow coronavirus SOPs to avoid imposing full restrictions.
