COVID-19 Easing the Lockdown – SOPs Violation and its Solution

islamicleaders_he3ubs on May 16, 2020

Almost two months of long country-wide lockdown is now been eased for many businesses on the condition of strictly following SOPs. But unfortunately, the violation of these SOPs is being observed at large in just a few days.

Looking at the current stats, in the past 24 hours; there was a record number of deaths i.e. 57+. These are the highest number of deaths in a single day. The reason behind this may be that the people are taking the situation very lightly and not taking enough precautionary measures or following the SOPs even at a minimum level. We wanted to share the minimum level of these SOPs, so that if someone isn’t able to follow them completely then one should at least follow the minimum level to avoid any further spread of this disease.
It should be kept in mind that this is a highly contagious disease and its human to human transmission rate is very high and that is the only reason the entire World is under lockdown situation. The most disturbing part about this virus is that if a person is infected, the symptoms may or may not appear within 14 days but that person may transmit the virus in these 14 days without even knowing about his disease.

Minimum Level SOPs

General Precautions for Everyone

Go outside only for essential work with the least number of people.
Don’t go outside if you are weak, sick, or older than 60.
Do not take children with you.
Wear masks if you are in a public gathering.
Make sure to keep Social Distancing – Don’t shake hands, hug, etc.
Make a habit of not touching the nose, mouth, or eyes in any case.
Avoid going to crowded places with poor air ventilation.
Avoid touching unnecessary items as much as you can.
After coming from outdoors, make sure to wash face and hands or make ablution as soon as possible.
Make sure to recite protection supplications regularly.

Limitations of sanitizers

Using Hand sanitizers was opted in the above mentioned SOPs due to some limitations of hand sanitizers which are as follows:

If your hands are dirty e.g. from mud, oil, etc. – hand sanitizers may not work at all.
By using sanitizer we think we are safe and can touch our face and mouth. However, this is not true. After touching any suspicious surface, you have to clean your hands again with a hand sanitizer.
When being used in the long term, it has severe side effects.

The point is, in any case, we should make a habit of not putting our hands over our noses, mouths, and eyes.

Precautions for the Shop keepers & Public Offices

Keep good ventilation of your place.
Make sure that everyone in your shop or office is wearing a mask.
Take good care of Social Distancing.
Ask customers to buy or get their work done ASAP.
All personnel should not touch the nose, mouth, or eyes at any cost.
Make ablution much often – after every hour or so, if possible.
Display your contact numbers details outside your shop to schedule customers to avoid congestion.
Make sure to recite protection supplications regularly.

All these safety measures are to be followed as much as possible and if not all, at least the two most important measures are a must to follow i.e
1. Make a habit of not touching the nose, mouth, or eyes in any case.
2. Make a habit of wearing a mask.

It should be clear to us that if we won’t act upon these safety measures timely, then the person who may be infected will take an example out of it and gradually will also stop using masks and will not take other precautions and will be spreading this disease unintentionally and unwantedly. Subsequently, we must show awareness as a nation and taking these precautions seriously and wear masks at all times while going outdoors.

The people who are well-off and can afford, should buy these masks and distribute them to the shopkeepers, public offices, and other people who find buying masks, on a regular basis, hard on their pocket.

These precautions and safety measures have been written down in the form of cards, brochures, standees, and distributed among the shops, offices, mosques nearby. These instructions are available on our website and you are also requested to print these brochures to distribute them in nearby areas to spread awareness.

Lastly, it is worth mentioning here that the SOPs made by the government are the best if followed, otherwise one should at least try to follow the minimum level of SOPs that have been published on our website.

Spread awareness and guiding others about these SOPs should be considered as a good deed. The people who can effectively guide and teach others regarding these minimum precautions are as follows,

Corona Relief Tiger Forces (CRTF).
Polio Workers should spread awareness among people as they do for polio vaccinations.
Tableeghi Jamat workers should guide people as they do for their religious duties.
Religious Scholars and Ulemas should guide people after every prayer and on Jummah sermon constantly.

We are also registering volunteers for this task and comprising a team to spread awareness in nearby areas. If you also want to be part of our volunteer team then register on our website www.helpinghand.pk

Let us join our hands to save our homes, towns, cities, and country and play our part in being responsible citizens.