PESHAWAR                 -                In order to review the latest situation of Corona virus in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and de­cide a future course of action, a high level meeting was held with Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mahmood Khan in the chair here on Tuesday.

The meeting was attend­ed by Health Minister Taimur Jhagrha, advisor to CM on In­formation Ajmal Khan wazir, Corps Commander Peshawar, Lt. Gen. Nauman Mahmood, Chief Secretary, Dr Kazim Niaz, Inspector General Po­lice, Sanaullah Abbassi, ad­ministrative secretaries of Relief, Home and Health de­partments and other relevant highups.

While briefing the meeting, it was told that decisions tak­en in the last meeting of the provincial cabinet regarding social distancing to control the outbreak of corona pan­demic were being fully imple­mented across the province. It was informed that overall 215 quarantine centers have been established in the province to cater the needs of the suspect­ed patients of Corona out of which 24 centres are active at the moment.

“Medical tests of the major­ity of Taftaan Zaireen quar­antined at Darazinda D I Khan have been reported clear and they are now being sent to their homes to stay at home quarantines for next two weeks”, the meeting was briefed.

The meeting decided to pro­vide free ration to the families of the individuals kept at the government quarantine facil­ities as well.

The matter of risk allowance to the frontline health and res­cue workers also came un­der consideration and it was decided that such package would be announced within a couple of days when the Fi­nance Department completes the home work.

The meeting stressed the need for evolving a mechanism in coordination with the feder­al government and other prov­inces to safely exchange the in­dividuals of Tableeghi parties.

The meeting reviewed in de­tail necessary arrangements put in place for the people ex­pected to come from across the border when the Torkham border is opened.

The meeting was also up­dated about the latest situa­tion of testing and treatment facilities of corona patients by health department and it was told that testing capacity had been increased from 100 per day to 300 per day which would further be increased to 500 within next few days.

“As many as 215 Quarantine Centers, 554 High Dependency Units and 2400 Isolation Beds have been arranged for coro­na patients across the prov­ince,” the meeting was briefed and further informed that number of ventilators in pub­lic sector hospitals of the prov­ince has been increased two folds which is further been in­creased on war footings.

The meeting expressed its satisfaction on the improved pace of supply of essential medical equipments to the hospitals and the stressed the need of further improve­ments. The forum was fur­ther informed that the in the light of the decision taken in the last meeting of provincial cabinet, almost 15000 volun­teers have been identified by the health department and the district administrations for rising Rapid Response Teams.

The meeting was also briefed about the availabili­ty of the commodities of dai­ly use in the markets and told that there is sufficient stock of commodities in the province, and effectives monitoring mechanism has been put in place with a dedicated control room in the food department to keep vigilance on hoarders.

While addressing the meet­ing, the Chief Minister highly appreciated the level of coor­dination amongst the civil ad­ministration, police and Army in the prevailing situation and hoped that the coordination would further be strengthened.

He directed the health de­partment to ensure the pro­vision of Personal Protective Equipments (PPEs) to the frontline of health workers and said that protection of the health workers in the prevail­ing situation was the top most priority of this government.

He also directed that the concerned health authori­ties to increase the testing ca­pacity for corona patient up to 2000 per day to be able to deal with any unwanted situa­tion in the future