LETTER: The federal government has taken to the right decision to allow almost businesses to reopen as the country witnesses a decline in the number of Covid-19 cases on a decline in the country. According to federal planning minister Asad Umar, the businesses that have been allowed to resume their operations include dine-in hotels at tourist destination (from August 8) and dine-in restaurants, beauty salons and gyms (August 10).

Insofar as wedding places/marriage halls are concerned, these could restart their operations by the middle of September. However, the government will take a final decision on these sectors by September to decide whether or not these are allowed to reopen by September 15. The required SOPs for these businesses will be finalized by the government within two days or by tomorrow.

The National Coordination Committee (NCC) and National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) deserve a lot of praise for their highly pragmatic approach to the Covid-19 challenge. A highly significant decrease in the number of pandemic infections and deaths caused by this deadly virus has certainly to lay more focus on people's livelihoods than anything else. Not only have our federal provincial governments worked harder in the battle against Covid-19, they have also earned praise from international media for employing the required strategies to successfully strike a delicate balance between lives and livelihoods.

Khalid Khan (Karachi)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020