Federal Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood announced on Tuesday that a special National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) meeting will be held to review reports of poor implementation of coronavirus Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) outside Cambridge examination centers as students take their A-level exams.

Taking to Twitter, the federal minister said that the permission to hold the exams was conditional on strict SOP observance.

"Permission to hold the exam was conditional on strict SOP observance. As more reports have come in, It is obvious that outside the exam centers the compliance is poor," Shafqat said and added, "This and the latest corona spread reports will be discussed in a special NCOC meeting today afternoon."

The education minister's response came after he visited an examination centre along with the Head of the British Council and Cambridge Pakistan. In a tweet, he said:

"Visited an exam center today with Head of British Council and Cambridge Pakistan. SOPs were being strictly observed including social distancing etc. But, the number of people in one room was large. Have asked them to drastically reduce it."