Matrix Report
Pakistan’s active COVID cases jumped past 46,053 with 6808 cases (recorded on January 18).
Capital Islamabad recorded a positivity rate of 15.37. Karachi also recorded an unusual surge in Omicron cases, forcing the private schools in Karachi to hold online schools for students from grade 1-5. As per government of Sindh instructions, students of Grade 5 and above will be required to have vaccination cards to attend the school on alternate days.
Based on the surge due to the Omicron variant, Pakistan’s National Command and Operations Center (NCOC) on January 19 released Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions (NPIs) to be effective from 20th to 31st January. Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) warns that the next two to three weeks can be critical for Pakistan as the positivity rate in Karachi continues to rise.
As per the new guidelines by NCOC, the NPIs for wedding functions will remain in force till 15th February. For cities and districts with up to 10% positivity rate indoor dining for 300 fully vaccinated individuals will be allowed, whereas a complete ban has been imposed on indoor dining for cities with positivity rates over 10%. For the education sector, NCOC announced stringent testing to be carried out for targeted closures in high disease prevalence education institutes.
All business and market activities will continue to operate on normal timings with no special instructions and offices will also operate normally with special emphasis on following COVID SOPs. Gyms, shrines, cinemas, amusement parks will remain open for the fully vaccinated individuals in cities with 10% positivity rate and with 50% capacity in cities with positivity rate over 10%. However there will be a ban on contact sports (Karate, Boxing, Martial Arts, Rugby, Water Polo, Kabaddi & Wrestling). Total lockdowns with stringent protocols, according to NCOC, will be enforced based on the risk assessment in the coming days.
