Bad weather hinders COVID-19 operations

In a press conference tonight, the National Emergency Operations Center announced that the bad weather experienced in the country currently has caused delays in the operations of the authorities regarding the virus.

Speaking at the presser, NEOC spokesperson Mabrouq Azeez said that “difficulties in transport, transfer of patients were faced, causing a delay in operations.”

He added that authorities were working as quickly as possible under the current circumstances. 

NEOC medical officer, Dr. Ibrahim Afzal also stated that operations to transfer samples were also hampered by the bad weather. 

Speaking at the presser on behalf of the Rapid Response Team, Abdul Hameed said that “Since it is a rainy period, (difficulties were faced) in moving between households to collect samples especially when protecting the PPE since it was prone to infections if it got wet.”

He stressed the importance of having a safe environment for front line workers.

The RRT teams have collected more than 10,000 samples and were now faced with a backlog of 72 hours. Pending samples could number as high as 400.

The whole country is faced with a spell of bad weather due to the beginning of the rainy season as well as from the indirect effects of Cyclone Amphan in the Bay of Bengal. Significant amounts of flooding with storm surges were experienced in the capital as well as numerous islands within the country.