In the light of the rising coronavirus cases across the country, Pakistan on Wednesday decided to “fully activate” the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) guidelines to curb the spread of COVID-19 infections.

The NCOC is the entity in charge of Pakistan’s COVID-19 efforts, policies and implementation and makes suggestions to the Prime Minister’s National Coordination Committee for timely actions related to the national COVID-19 response Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed concern over rising coronavirus cases and wanted the implementation of safety measures, reported Geo News.

A statement from PM Office said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif chaired an NCOC meeting to revive Pakistan’s coronavirus response forum.

The NCOC stopped functioning at the end of March after running operations for two years and leading Pakistan’s response to COVID-19, while all its roles were handed over to the National Institute of Health (NIH).

The decision to revive NCOC comes as Pakistan’s daily COVID-19 case count crossed the 500-mark for the first time in three months amid a constant rise in the recent countrywide spread of the disease, the NIH’s data showed.

The country reported 541 new COVID-19 infections overnight, pushing Pakistan’s positivity ratio above 3 per cent again. The new infections were detected after countrywide diagnostic testing on 15,462 samples, as per the data, reported Geo News.

Meanwhile, the number of patients being treated in critical care units (CCUs) also surged to 100, while one person infected with COVID-19 died in the last 24 hours.

With the new additions, the total number of deaths rose to 30,392 and the number of active cases climbed to 5,269.

Shehbaz ordered district and provincial authorities to strictly implement protective measures and take other steps to keep the deadly virus at bay.

In a press conference after the decision, Health Minister Abdul Qadir Patel said that the public will have to follow standard operating procedures (SOPs) till the coronavirus is prevalent, reported Geo News.

“We are mulling over strategies for religious gatherings as the threat of coronavirus cases rising still persists,” he said.

The health minister added that the government has also decided to increase COVID testing as till now only those who had symptoms were being tested.

He said that the government will begin vaccinating children aged 5 to 12 in the next month or two while the campaign for booster shots will be initiated again, reported Geo News.