RAWALPINDI: The third wave of coronavirus has hit hard as the number of confirmed cases of the deadly virus across Rawalpindi district jumped to 15,927 while 13,293 of them have been discharged but, the citizens particularly youngsters are not following the coronavirus Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) issued by the Punjab government under the guidelines issued by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) to contain the spread of COVID-19.
The Punjab government had issued a notification to change the business hours and weekly closure of bazaars and markets in Rawalpindi district in the wake of Covid-19 surge.
The traders were directed to close shops by 7.30 pm and take an off on Fridays and Saturdays.
On Sunday with restrictions eased, the residents rushed towards city markets and shopping centres, violating the SOPs put forward by the government to stem the spread of the virus.
At shopping malls, big grocery stores and cash and carry stores, and different markets, women with young children could be seen despite the government banning children from the markets.
“Observing social distancing is a dream, which we can see but can’t implement in letter and spirit,” said a police officer.
He added the traders’ community had assured the authorities of implementing the SOPs, but so far they had failed to fulfill their commitment.
A shopkeeper, Wajid said that the market committees did nothing to protect the citizens as well as to implement the SOPs.
Although, big shopping malls and cash and carry stores were implementing SOPs to some extent but most of the small shops were witnessed openly violating the SOPs of providing sanitizers to their customers while at many points people were seen ignoring the SOP of maintaining social-distancing.
The SOP of not bringing children especially minor ones to markets was also not followed and hundreds of women were seen carrying infants or minor kids with them while shopping in the city markets.
“I can’t provide sanitizers to all of my customers because it is not a cheap item,” Altaf, a small trader in Moti Bazaar said.
The shops owners said they could not stop people from coming to their shops as this will hurt their business. However, some shops were seen to be following the SOPs with security guards, stopping customers from entering if two or three customers were already in the shop.
Mushtaq said they had lost a large number of customers due to implementing social distancing because customers did not wait and moved to the next shop if denied entry.
Rawalpindi District sees a jump in Covid-19 cases particularly during March after third wave attacked the district, as blatant violation of the SOPs continued despite repeated warnings by the relevant authorities.
Total admitted patients in Rawalpindi district are 184 including 19 critical, 66 stable and 99 in moderate condition. 22 patients are in Holy Family Hospital, 30 in Benazir Bhutto Hospital, 97 in Rawalpindi Institute of Urology, 30 in Fauji Foundation Hospital, two in Heart International and 3 in Begum Akhter Memorial hospital. Nearly 1817 patients are in home isolation.
But, neither social distancing nor other SOPs were being maintained at most of the markets across the district.
The public transport, especially the van and Suzuki pick up based transport, poses a serious threat to the residents due to non-compliance with the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) as social distancing for prevention of coronavirus pandemic are being violated despite warnings and fines by the authorities concerned.
The district administration is taking strict actions against the transporters, shopping plazas, marriage halls, restaurants and other public places for not following all the precautionary measures.
A large number of vehicles were inspected and fines were imposed by Regional Transport Authority (RTA) Rawalpindi but still, the transporters, drivers and passengers are not fully following the SOPs which may cause danger to the health system.
No-one is observing social distancing in the local transport and the transporters are just concerned about earning money through accommodating maximum passengers in a van or Suzuki pick ups. Hundreds of vans and Suzuki pick ups are plying as public transport and hundreds of passengers have no options except for using these over-crowded vehicles on different routes.
RTA authorities informed that teams were conducting raids on a daily basis. They said the officials were imposing fine and vehicles were being impounded for non-implementation of the SOPs.
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