LAHORE:The Chief Secretary Punjab,Jawad Rafique Malik on Thursday directed all the divisional commissioners to ensure implementation of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), besides expediting the vaccination drive in line with the guidelines issued by National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) for prevention of coronavirus.

He issued these directions while presiding over a meeting to review the situation of coronavirus pandemic and pace of vaccination in the province here at the Civil Secretariat.

The additional chief secretary (home), administrative secretaries of health departments, additional IG special branch, Director General of Public Relations, senior civil and military officials attended the meeting, while divisional commissioners joined through video link.

Addressing the meeting, the Chief Secretary said the threat of fourth wave of coronavirus epidemic was still there and defeating the virus was only possible through implementation of precautions and vaccination.

He directed that vaccination of all government employees and their families be ensured with special focus on large departments such as police and education.

The meeting decided to take action against those government employees who were refusing to get themselves inoculated.

While directing the divisional commissioners for vaccination of private sector employees as per guidelines of NCOC, the Chief Secretary stressed that the target of administering vaccine to staff of private companies including industries and banks must be met by July 31.

He further stressed that implementation of SOPs in cattle markets, bazaars, restaurants and marriage halls must be ensured to contain the spread of the virus. He directed “strict action” over violation of SOPs.

Earlier,the meeting was informed that the process of vaccination was smoothly underway in the province. More than 185,000 people were vaccinated on Wednesday and more than 9.7 million

persons were vaccinated in the province so far.