Pakistan hopes to defeat coronavirus pandemic

Pakistan on Tuesday expressed the hope that the government, with the cooperation of the people, will soon get be able to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic and, to this effect, strict measures are being taken gradually.

Special assistant to Prime Minister on health, Dr Zafar Mirza, said that no countrywide lockdown is being observed and the availability of all daily use items are assured.

He said that the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), as the frontline organisation, is taking swift action on the proposals and advice of the ministry of health to ensure the availability of all necessary medicines and medical equipment.

The special assistant thanked all the Pakistanis living in the country and abroad for their generous offer for donations and said that in this regard a person will be appointed soon for firsthand information.

Dr Zafar Mirza also said that the government is chalking out national-level programmes, which include training of 5,000 medical professionals and a national volunteer programme, for effectively handling such cases in future.

Giving updates of Covid-19 cases across the country, the minister said that currently there were 892 confirmed cases, with an increase of 89 cases during the last 24 hours. There are about 7,736 suspected cases, with 1,265 new ones being reported in the last 24 years.

He said that the number of coronavirus patients in Balochistan was 110, Sindh 399, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) 38, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir 1, Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) 80, Punjab 259, and Islamabad 15.

He also said that out of the total confirmed cases, the ratio of women and men was 37 and 63 per cent respectively.

Currently, a total of 4,788 persons have been kept in quarantine across the country, he added.