A First Information Report (FIR) has been filed against Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Minister of Health, Taimur Saleem Jhagra, and the owner and manager of a restaurant in Peshawar for violating coronavirus standard operating procedures (SOP) by organizing Monday an iftar party.

Peshawar deputy commissioner Ehteshamul Haq said Dawn.com that the administration took timely action after photos of the iftar were shared on social media.

The photos show that Jhagra and others are not observing social distancing and that the Minister of Health also did not put on a face mask. Eating in restaurants was banned by authorities last week to curb the spread of the coronavirus in major KP towns, including Peshawar.

Haq said Jhagra had an iftar and a dinner with a dozen people in the restaurant, adding that they brought their own food.

“There will be no sort of compromise on the coronavirus SOPs. If the SOPs are violated, the law will come into force,” he said.

He added that the restaurant had been sealed.

The FIR was registered under Articles 6 to 17 of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Outbreak Control and Emergency Relief Act 2020.These sections relate to attendance at public places, prohibiting or restricting ‘events and gatherings, the movement and retention of a potentially infectious person in an appropriate location. location, obligation to undergo review and assessment, and obligation to inform.

On Saturday, the KP government had asked the Center to authorize the deployment of armed forces and civilian armed forces in the province to ensure the effective implementation of the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) directives relating to the coronavirus. .

The Home Office issued a notification the same day, after which Pakistani army troops were deployed to the KP as well as other provinces and federal territories to help enforce Covid SOPs. Improved troop deployment was carried out in five KP towns – Peshawar, Mardan, Nowshera, Charsadda and Swabi – where the positivity rate was “very high”.

Four districts of KP, including Peshawar, are at the top of the list of endemic areas in the country, according to a report by the World Health Organization.

The province has reported 584 coronavirus cases and 22 deaths in the past 24 hours. The provincial caseload is 114,661 and the death toll is 3,156.