ISLAMABAD: Furniture expo 2020 in Islamabad has posed a risk of COVID-19 spread as the administration failed to implement the standard operating procedures (SOPs).
Chairman Pakistan Furniture Association Zahid Hussain has said that despite the cancellation of the notification, the festival of thousands of people in Islamabad will cause the spread of COVID-19.
Zahid Hussain said the government had imposed a ban on important wedding ceremonies while the unnecessary furniture expo, which is also being held 500 yards from the NCOC office in Islamabad, is a question mark.
He said, “Precious human lives are at stake, Chief Justice Islamabad High Court should take suo motu notice to stop such festival”. COVID-19 SOPs should be the same for rich and poor, DC Islamabad should follow his orders by stopping the expo, he added.
Earlier, after the owners refused to accept previous restrictions amid fears of a second wave of COVID-19 pandemic the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) has issued revised standard operating procedures (SOPs) for marriage halls.
As per details, the NCOC issued a notification to provincial chief secretaries and health secretaries renewing guidelines for the marriage halls, to be enforced across 20 major cities of the country from November 20.
As per the fresh guidelines, outdoor marriage activities would be allowed in 16 cities and up to 1000 guests could attend the ceremony.
While the indoor and outdoor arrangements could be made for marriage ceremonies in four other cities. For indoor marriage ceremonies, only 300 guests would be permitted to attend the event at a time while 500 guests could attend the ceremony in an outdoor arrangement.
