-Overall tally hits 4,474 mark
-Recoveries reach 572 on improving pace
-PPEs delivered to 152 hospital throughout country
By Ajmal Khan Yousafzai
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday has reported 63 deaths from novel coronavirus while the total number of cases has surged to 4322.
According to details, 2,224 patients have been tested positive for the epidemic in Punjab, 1,128 in Sindh, 560 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 213 in Gilgit-Baltistan, 219 in Balochistan, 102 in Islamabad and 28 in Azad Kashmir.
So far, 572 patients have recovered in the country while 25 are in critical condition. Prime Minister Imran Khan said that a total of Rs12,000 will be distributed among 12 million families at 17,000 different point from April 9. He assured that distribution of funds to the deserving families will be totally merit-based, transparent and non-political what may come. The prime minister maintained that the Ehsas programme was free of any political influence as the data was collected digitally.
Imran Khan went on to say that the Corona Tigers Relief Force has two main purposes: to identify people who are needy and to identify people who need to be put under quarantine.
“The force volunteers will try to locate people who are unable to register through SMS for the cash disbursement programme,” he said.
State Minister for Health Dr Zafar Mirza clarified that warmer weather will not affect the spread of coronavirus.
Talking to media outside Supreme Court, Dr Zafar Mirza rejected the theory that warmer weather slow or stop the spread of coronavirus and said that government is trying to stop the spread of the pandemic.
He also said that deaths and infections of coronavirus in Pakistan are lower than projected numbers.
Adviser to Prime Minister on Health Dr Zafar Mirza on Thursday advised against excessive use of personal protective equipment (PPE) at hospitals saying that it was only meant for medics treating COVID-19 patients.
Addressing a presser, he said that provision of the PPE to front line health workers was ongoing and the material should be used as per the guidelines.
“Excessive use of the material is being observed,” he said adding that the guidelines provided to hospitals outline the details of professionals allowed to use the equipment.
He said that they were adopting a systematic procedure to avoid shortage of the equipment. “We have already dispatched the equipment needed for a week to the 152 hospitals designated to treat coronavirus patients across the country,” Zafar Mirza said.
The special assistant said that a central database of the testing kits was also being established in order to ensure proper supply of it across the country. “We will be supplying testing kits to 400 hospitals,” he said.
Dr Zafar Mirza said that fortunately their early estimates regarding rise in coronavirus cases in the country have proved wrong due to lockdown and social distancing measures.
However, he said that it would be not wise to remain satisfied and return to a normal routine. “We should adopt more measures to avoid spread of the virus to succeed our previous efforts,” he said.
He said that there was shortage of ventilators in the country and the government has encouraged local manufacturing of it.
“We want people to invest in it to overcome the shortage and anyone eyeing to manufacture it should approach DRAP for approval,” Zafar Mirza said.
The SAPM on health affairs said that currently 44,896 coronavirus tests have been performed in the country including 2,737 tests during the last 24 hours.
“Out of total tests during 24-hour, 248 have tested positive for it,” he said adding that the number of recoveries from the virus have improved significantly at national and international level.
He said that around 63 people have so far died from the virus in Pakistan.
Sindh government on Thursday tighten lockdown restrictions in Karachi in order to prevent local transmission of coronavirus.
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah asked the law-enforcement agencies to ensure complete observance of the lockdown orders of the provincial government.
The deployment of Police and Rangers has been increased in Karachi amid complete lockdown orders of Sindh government. Extra check posts have been set up at the various roads of the city.
Those that are found disobeying the protocol would have to deal with the legal consequences of their actions, warned authorities.
CM Murad on Wednesday expressed anger at the way people were coming onto roads and crowding outside grocery and food shops in Karachi despite ongoing lockdown due to coronavirus pandemic.
“I want a strict lockdown in place as it happened during the first seven days of the shutdown,” Murad directed law enforcement authorities
It must be noted that the confirmed coronavirus cases in Pakistan on Thursday reached 4,322, according to the National Command and Control Centre’s latest statistics.
As many as 248 new cases of the COVID-19 were reported across the country during last 24 hours. So far 467 patients have recovered from the deadly virus, whereas the death toll has surged to 63.
According to the breakup of the province-wise cases, Punjab tops the list with 2171 cases, while Sindh has recorded 1036 coronavirus cases so far.
560 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 212 in Balochistan, 102 in Islamabad, 213 in Gilgit Baltistan and 28 cases were reported in Azad Kashmir.
