British High Commissioner Christian Turner visits COVID-19 Emergency Operations Centre

Islamabad: British High Commissioner Dr Christian Turner visited the COVID-19 National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) in Islamabad Friday to see at first-hand how Pakistan is responding to the crisis. The centre is the key surveillance and data management centre for the global pandemic in Pakistan, providing data on how the virus is affecting the country and so strengthening the fight against the disease.   

The High Commissioner was accompanied by the head of the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) office in Pakistan Annabel Gerry.  They were received by the Director of the NEOC, Dr Rana Safdar, who briefed them on how COVID19 Surveillance is working throughout Pakistan.  The centre and surveillance networks have been supported by UK Aid through the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), to monitor polio in Pakistan, before being used for COVID-19 response. Dr Christian Turner said:  “Hugely impressed with National Emergency Operations Centre putting world class data, surveillance and epidemiology at the heart of COVID19 response.  “I’m proud that the UK supports this centre, which was set up to help fight polio. Now it has repurposed to become the biggest data centre in the country for all COVID-19-related information, as Pakistan responds to this global pandemic. “The dedicated people behind this centre underline the best of UK-Pakistan friendship and shared problem-solving, even in these most challenging of times” The data collated at the centre is published daily on the COVID-19 dashboard by the Government of Pakistan [covid.gov.pk]. The centre was originally the National Emergency Operations Centre for surveillance of polio cases, but is now also being used to track cases and collate data on COVID-19 in Pakistan.

•The UK is the one of the largest donors to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), which supports polio immunisation and surveillance, including the National Emergency Operations Centre. UK support to Pakistan through the initiative amounts to approximately £12m per year.

The UK is one of the main donors to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) globally. The UK has recently committed £400m for the next 3 year programme of work.