Efficient Management Of Cattle Markets Vital To Prevent Spread Of Coronavirus: Asad Umar

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Jul, 2020 ) :Federal Minister for Planning Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar Monday said that proper management of cattle markets was imperative to prevent spread of coronavirus during oncoming Eid ul Azha days.

He said this while chairing a special meeting of National Command Operation Centre (NCOC) here at Chief Minister's secretariat.

The minister said that movement of people from rural to urban areas for sale of animals and later going back to their home towns needed proper handling and check to ensure safety of people from COVID-19.

The meeting was briefed that almost 700 cattle markets were being set up across the country on the occasion of Eid ul Azha and necessary guidelines had been issued to all the concerned stakeholders in this regard.

The meeting was apprised that cattle markets will be set up outside the cities and a layout of the markets will be shared with all concerned so that health protocols could be followed in letter and spirit.

Local administration had been asked to ensure compliance for following guidelines : Cattle markets will be functional from 6:00 am to 7:00 pm, screening of all persons before entering markets; use of face masks, maintaining social distancing; avoid over crowding. The meeting was apprised that the number of cattle markets might be increased but their size will be kept small.

At the outset of the meeting Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar welcomed the NCOC team and said that holding of NCOC special session in Lahore was a great initiative which would help in better understanding of the situation and evolving future course of action.

He lauded NCOC's extraordinary efforts to fight coronavirus as per vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Chief Minister said that federal and provincial governments, civil administrations and security forces did a great job,saying the identification of hotspots, smart lockdown strategy of NCOC yielded positive results in containing the contagion.

The meeting was also briefed about Trace, Test and Quarantine (TTQ) and smart lockdown strategy.

The participants noted that over 750,000 contacts had been traced who came in contact with the virus infected people and out of these contacts those who tested positive were sent in quarantine/ home isolation across the country,and this saved about 300,000 individuals from getting infected.

Contact tracing was being accelerated through combination of Rapid Response Teams (RRT) and call centres.

Local communities play key role in fight against COVID-19 and therefore Rural Support Network organizations, local organizations, notables were participating in different fields to assist local administration.

Regarding smart lockdown, the meeting was apprised that NCOC identified top 30 cities as COVID-19 hotspots with maximum infected areas using auto trace and NITB maps.

On average 3 to 8 million population with 10 to 30 percent of infected people remained under 300 to 500 smart lockdowns on rolling basis since the adoption of this policy across the country. Currently as many as 321 smart lockdowns were being observed across the country,the meeting was apprised.

Punjab Health Minister Yasmin Rashid, Punjab Law Minister Muhammad Basharat Raja, senior officers and other provincial representatives were also present on the occasion.