NCOC postpones judgement on school closures.

In areas where the COVID-19 positive rate is 10% or above, the NCOC will implement new COVID-19 SOPs.

In the wake of the fifth wave of coronavirus, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Monday postponed a decision on whether or not to close schools across the nation.

According to a statement released after the NCOC meeting.

"Decisions about educational institutions will be based on data of positive cases of various institutions for which major testing at educational institutions is being carried out,"

The NCOC considered the data from the epidemic curve chart, the national vaccine strategy, and illness prevalence across the country, and resolved to deploy new protocols in cities with a positive rate of 10% or above.

The meeting was chaired by Federal Minister for Planning Asad Umar and National Coordinator Maj General Muhammad Zafar Iqbal and joined by SAPM on Health Dr Faisal Sultan virtually.

During the discussion, which was organized when the national positive ratio reached a worrying level, global and regional trends of the Omicron variant were also discussed.