ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar on Wednesday warned that more business sectors could be shut down in a couple of weeks, if coronavirus standard operating procedures were not implemented.

“If we do not adopt better decisions and the entire nation does not play its role against covid-19 then we will face such a situation in one or two weeks that we will have to restrict other many sectors as well,” said Asad Umar while addressing a media briefing in Islamabad.

He said the government realized that private educational institutions, organisations, hotels and marriage lawns were affected because of restrictions placed on them amid rise of coronavirus cases. Nevertheless, he said, the government preferred about financial condition of a hundred people over one person.

“Regrettably, COVID SOPs are not being implemented. The decision about permission of gathering lower than 300 is also not being carried out,” he rued.

The federal minister said the NCOC had been given the responsibility of the nation’s health. We could see spike of COVID cases in October, he said adding that Pakistan’s strategy had been lauded at international level in the first wave.

Asad Umar said when people heard their leaders saying that news of spread of covid-19 was merely a political gimmick, then how they could take it seriously.

Unfortunately, a lot of frontliner health workers had been affected by covid-19, he said.

He said it felt as if the bureaucracy and law enforcers were feeling a little hesitant in the second wave to implement the SOPs. “I know that it is a tough job as nobody wants restrictions,” he said.