NCOC Restricts Weddings to Two Hours

On Friday, the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), issued a notification to announce relevant standard operating procedures (SOPs) for wedding halls. 

As per the notification, wedding functions will not be allowed to last more than two hours. Management will not be permitted to keep halls open past 10 pm. Additionally, the NCOC has strictly announced that no more than 300 guests should be at an indoor event. Similarly, outdoor wedding events have been limited to 500 guests only. 

The NCOC went on to say that hall management should adhere to the SOPs released by the relevant authorities. They stated that appropriate steps need to be taken to ensure that the numbers of the virus do not rise due to wedding functions. Moreover, wedding halls will have to pay a hefty fine and will be sealed indefinitely, if they are found to be violating any Covid-19 SOPs.

The national body on Covid-19 also called for strict adherence to all SOPs, especially if a gathering is absolutely necessary. 

According to the operation center, they are further discussing public gatherings and will make more decisions regarding them. 

Back in September, the NCOC had moved to seal many educational institutions for flouting coronavirus standard operating procedures (SOPs) and health guidelines. 

Furthermore, Shafqat Mahmood, the Federal Minister for education, informed that the government has been randomly testing students for the Covid-19 virus. This happened soon after educational activities resumed in universities and schools all over the country on the 15th of September. 

The minister had reported that they had noticed a one percent infection rate as a result of reopening educational institutions. He stated that this was acceptable to the government, as long as strict implementation of SOPs continued to be followed. 

On the 18th of September, the NCOC had announced the shutting down of nearly 13 educational institutions in the country. The center had explained that these places were found to be non-compliant with standard operating procedures (SOPs) and health guidelines. 

A day before these 13 educational institutions were sealed, 22 more were sealed for the same reason. In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa alone, nearly 16 educational institutions were shut down. One was also closed in Islamabad and five in the region of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). 

However, in recent news, Shafqat Mahmood announced that the government had no plans to shut down any more educational institutions in the future.