KP minister booked for violating virus SOPS
PESHAWAR: A first information report (FIR) was registered against Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Health Minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra and the owner and manager of a restaurant in Peshawar for violating coronavirus standard operating procedures (SOPS) by hosting an Itar party.
Peshawar Assistant Commissioner Ehteshamul Haq said that the administration took timely action ater pictures of the Itar were shared on social media.
The photos show that Jhagra and others are not observing social distancing and the health minister has not donned a face mask either. Dining at restaurants was banned by authorities last week to curb the spread of the coronavirus in major cities of KP, including Peshawar.
Haq said Jhagra had Itar and dinner with a dozen people in the restaurant, adding that they had brought their own food.
“There will not be any kind of compromise on coronavirus SOPS. If SOPS are violated, the law will come into action,” he stressed. The restaurant had been sealed.
The FIR was registered under Section 6 to 7 of the KP Epidemic Control and Emergency Relief Act, 2020. These sections are related to atendance in public places, prohibition or restriction of events and gatherings, movement and retention of potentially infectious person to a suitable place, duty to undergo screening and assessment, and duty to inform.
On Saturday, the KP government had requested the Centre to authorise deployment of armed forces and civil armed forces in the province to ensure effective implementation of National Command and Operation Centre’s (NCOC) guidelines related to coronavirus.
The interior ministry issued a notification the same day after which Pakistan Army troops were deployed in KP as well as other provinces and federal territories to help enforce COVID-19 SOPS. Enhanced troop deployment was done in five cities - Peshawar, Mardan,
Nowshera, Charsadda and Swabi - where the positivity rate was very high. 142 more deaths and 4,487 new positive cases were reported in the country during the last 24 hours.
According to the statistics issued by the NCOC, the positivity ratio ater 43,981 tests remained ten point two per cent and death toll in the country has now reached 17,329.
During the past 24 hours, most of the deaths have occurred in Punjab followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.