Daily Times

Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa Wednesday received a detailed presentation on the national strategy for test, trace and quarantine as well as Covid-19 projections.

The COAS visited the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) where he was received by Lieutenant General Hamood uz Zaman Khan, Commander Army Air Defence Command and National Coordinator NCOC, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement.

The COAS was briefed in detail by Director General Operations and Planning NCOC Major General Asif Mehmood Goraya about Covid-19 related multi-sectoral situation, implementation of National Coordination Committee (NCC) decisions, projections about likely spread of the disease in Pakistan and support being extended to the civil administration against the pandemic. The COAS was also apprised about national strategy for test, trace and quarantine (TTQ) aimed at identifying disease spread, focused clusters or hotspots to enable targeted lockdowns and need driven resource optimisation at all levels.

The COAS lauded the remarkable efforts of NCOC for formulating and implementing Covid-19 response despite resource and time constraints. While complimenting civil-military components of NCOC, the COAS emphasised the need for continued stratified risk assessment, managing trinity of health crisis, economic slide and psycho-social impact through efficient resource management. “Pakistan Army in collaboration with other national institutions should take all possible measures to bring comfort to the nation in these challenging times particularly during Ramazan,” the COAS concluded.