Pakistani doctors warn of fourth COVID-19 wave after Eid Al-Adha as restrictions lifted

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) warned on Tuesday that the government’s decision to allow indoor dinning and marriages at restaurants and wedding halls for vaccinated people from next month could lead to a fourth coronavirus wave in the first week of August, following the religious Eid Al-Adha holiday.
The country’s pandemic response body, the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), on Monday announced that indoor dining at restaurants would be allowed in the country from July 1, though at 50 percent occupancy and only for vaccinated individuals.
“Restaurants and hotels management will institute mechanism for checking of vaccination certificates of guests and will also ensure vaccination of respective management and staff,” the NCOC said in a statement on Monday. “Takeaways are allowed 24/7.”
Likewise, indoor marriages have also been allowed for vaccinated individuals with a maximum limit of 200 guests.
Other than that, the authorities have permitted cinemas to reopen “with strict COVID protocols for vaccinated individuals.”
Medical professionals have, however, raised questions regarding the mechanism to implement the directives for restaurants, cinemas and marriage halls to only serve vaccinated people.
“Every time our number of cases start going down, we become complacent and reopen everything, which leads to another wave,” Dr. Qaisar Sajjad, secretary general of the Pakistan Medical Association, told Arab News on Tuesday.
“The [COVID-19] vaccination rate is slow across the country, and we can face another wave in the first week of August, after Eid Al-Adha,” he said, urging people to get vaccinated at the earliest to protect themselves from the virus.
Restaurants and hotel managements say they don’t have the capacity to check vaccination certificates of guests before serving them, demanding the government devise a mechanism for this.
“It’s good for our industry that the government has allowed indoor dinning for vaccinated people, but how can we check and verify the vaccine certificates of individuals?” said Athar Sultan Chawla, convener of the All Pakistan Restaurants Association, while talking to Arab News.
He said NCOC officials, in a meeting with the restaurants association last week, promised to provide a mobile app for each restaurant, hotel and wedding hall manager to check and verify vaccination certificates.
“We hope the NCOC will provide us with the promised app, otherwise we will not be able to do it on our own,” he said. “Apart from that, the provincial governments have yet to issue separate notifications for easing of the coronavirus restrictions.”
Federal and provincial health authorities did not respond to phone calls and text messages seeking their viewpoint regarding the mechanism to ensure implementation of the new guidelines.
NCOC chief Asad Umar already warned of a new COVID-19 wave in July if people fail to follow health guidelines like wearing face masks and getting shots.
The third COVID-19 wave set in in Pakistan in March, forcing the government to impose virus restrictions across the country. This led to a decline in infection rates by May, leading the NCOC to begin easing curbs from June 15.
The South Asian nation of 220 million has administered 15.6 million COVID-19 doses since February when it started the inoculation drive and is planning to vaccinate at least 70 million people to achieve herd immunity.
The NCOC said in a statement earlier in the day that the country was going to receive three million doses of SinoVac vaccine from China on Tuesday through a procurement plan for June.
Pakistan has so far received 21.13 million doses of different types of vaccines, out of which over 17 million doses are procured on payment, the NCOC said.
The government has also allocated $1.2 billion for further purchase of COVID-19 vaccines during the coming fiscal year.

Pakistani doctors warn of fourth COVID-19 wave after Eid Al-Adha as restrictions lifted