NCOC stiffens SOPs as daily Covid tally hits all-time high

The single day tally of new coronavirus surged to the highest ever level of the pandemic in the country so far, as the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) revised on Friday its guidelines for educational institutions and places of worship to contain the spread of the Omicron variant.

The NCOC, which serves as the nerve centre of the government synchronised anti-Covid strategy, reported 7,678 new coronavirus cases during the last 24 hours, up from 6,808 cases, the second-highest daily tally, since the pandemic started in 2020.

The previous highest single day tally was recorded on June 13, 2020 when the NCOC reported 6,825 cases. Friday’s surge depicted a national positivity ratio of 12.93%, while it pushed the number of active Covid cases to above 57,000.

Also for the first time in many days, the daily deaths hit the double-digit. The NCOC said in its update that 23 Covid patients lost their lives during the past 24 hours. At present, it added, 961 patients were admitted to various Covid-dedicated health facilities across the country.

The country is in the grip of a fifth wave of coronavirus driven by the Omicron variant. This time around, however, the epicentre of the disease remained the Sindh province, particularly, the capital city of Karachi, where the positivity ratio reaches 45.43%.

New SOP’s
Therefore, the forum decided that education institutions, their premises or sections or specific classes with high positivity would be closed for one week. It added that the provincial authorities in consultation with district health and education officials and school administrations would set a threshold of cases for deciding such closures.