Daily Times

Over 16.7 million doses of the Covid vaccine have been administered in the country so far as National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) issues guidelines for Eid ul Adha, on Sunday.

According to the NCOC, over 16.7 million doses have been administered nationwide as it also began administration of Moderna COVID vaccine at Islamabad mass vaccination centre.

The decision-making body on COVID-19 in the country further issued guidelines for Eid ul Adha, directing the concerned authorities to ensure that cattle markets are established outside the cities’ remits to avoid virus spread.

“A complete ban will remain in place on the sale of sacrificial animals within the premises of cities,” it said. “The staffers and the traders at the cattle market should be vaccinated.”

The body further conveyed that a team headed by DG NCOC visited Gilgit Baltistan to review the vaccination process.

“It visited Gilgit, Hunza, and Shigar areas and assured the local leaders of vaccinating the entire population in registered colonies,” it said, adding that a special team was also formed to improve the vaccination process.

It is pertinent to mention here that the National Ministry of Health has also issued COVID guidelines to be followed during Eid-ul-Azha besides expressing concern that cattle markets could become a source of virus spread in the country.

The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Sunday issued detailed instructions to all the federating units for managing Eid-ul-Azha under strict Covid-19 safety protocols with cattle markets to be established outside the cities across the country.

The NCOC has directed the provincial authorities to ensure that in the light of these guidelines, Coronavirus standard operating procedures (SOPs) would be implemented in the Cattle Markets.

It was mandatory for all staff and livestock vendors to be vaccinated whereas the administration of the market was responsible to provide facilities for hand sanitizer, masks and rapid antigen test (RAT) at entry points, it added.

However, there was a ban on buying and selling of sacrificial animals inside the city.

The Forum has also released a proposed layout of model cattle market along with important guidelines to be followed in the market including, screening of all persons entering the cattle market, availability of veterinary doctor to check animal health at the entrance and arduous control measures mainly at entry, exit, marshaling area and control on number of persons inside cattle market through token system etc that may be devised as per need.

The guidelines also included that elaborate sign posting or guidance arrangement to prevent overcrowding should be ensured along with strict compliance of social distancing and wearing of mask.

Moreover, on site continuous awareness campaigns through displaying of banners should be made whereas no physical touching or checking of animals would be allowed. The market administrations should ensure availability of emergency services at each market, masks, sanitizers, water, shade etc at the venue along with regular disinfection of the area.

The Forum also apprised that the country successfully exceeded the total number of vaccinated individuals beyond 16.6 million with more than 830,000 vaccines administered in the month of June.

It added that a delegation led by DG NCOC visited Gilgit-Baltistan to review the overall situation and vaccination process in the region.

The delegation inspected the vaccination centers at Gilgit, Shiger and Hunza and assured the stakeholders that the NCOC has decided to vaccinate 100 percent of the registered population in all tourist destinations.

A special team was also formed in Gilgit-Baltistan to prevent coronavirus surge and improve vaccination process.