-Total COVID-19 cases surpass 183,000 as recoveries gather pace over 71,000
By Ajmal Khan Yousafzai
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has once again defended his decision not to impose a complete lockdown in the country despite strong criticism, saying that Pakistan’s circumstances were different from Wuhan city and Europe.
Speaking about the havoc that the coronavirus has wreaked on Pakistan’s economy, the prime minister said that he had not been in favour of imposing a lockdown as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had done.
PM Imran was addressing the ceremony for the commencement of three Ehsaas initiatives, including Ehsaas Rashan Portal, Ehsaas Langar and Panagah App and PM’s COVID Relief Fund website, in the Federal Capital today.
He said the elderly people and those already suffering from serious diseases are the most vulnerable and if they are protected against the virus, the impact of the pandemic will get considerably reduced. “The next one month is difficult for dealing with the pandemic,” he said.
The prime minister spoke about the damage that had been done to the economies of developed countries like Italy and the United States when they had to impose a complete lockdown, saying that long cues of people could be seen in America asking for food and charity.
“So it had to happen in our country [too],” he said. “And if provinces would have asked me I would never have allowed such a lockdown. Because when you are about to impose a lockdown, you should think about the effects your decisions will have on the masses,” he added. The premier said that provinces should not have ordered a lockdown until they thought about the effects of that decision on the daily wagers and the poor.
“However, everyone panicked all at once. They were looking at Europe and Wuhan City in China, that were going through different circumstances. Our situation was totally different,” he added.
The prime minister spoke about how he was subjected to criticism for not imposing a complete lockdown across the country. “He [Modi] imposed the lockdown they [criticis] wanted me to impose. I thank God that I resisted pressure and didn’t do that,” he added, noting that there 34% of the people in India were facing hunger and extreme poverty according to research. PM Imran praised Dr Sania Nishtar and her team for providing billions of rupees to people in a short span of time. He said that the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund will be used to parovide relief to people who had been unemployed by the COVID-19 pandemic, adding that the government will add to each donation to ensure maximum relief reaches the masses.
The prime minister appreciated Dr Sania Nishtar’s initiative to bring together donors and the impoverished on a platform so that the government could not be involved in the middle.Pakistan on Monday confirmed 89 deaths in a single day by novel coronavirus as the number of positive cases has surged to 181,088. The nationwide tally of fatalities has jumped to 3,590.
According to the latest figures by the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), 4,471 persons have been tested positive for COVID-19 in 24 hours. Sindh has become the worst-hit province by the pandemic in terms of cases followed by Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. Till now 69,628 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Sindh, 66,943 in Punjab, 21,997 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 9,475 in Balochistan, 10,912 in Islamabad, 1,288 in Gilgit-Baltistan and 845 in Azad Kashmir.
Furthermore, 1,435 individuals have lost their lives to the epidemic in Punjab, 1,089 in Sindh, 821 in KP, 102 in Balochistan, 101 in Islamabad, 22 in GB and 20 in Azad Kashmir. Patients are under treatment at quarantine centers of 462 hospitals where 7,295 beds are available.
Pakistan has so far conducted 1,102,162 coronavirus tests and 30,520 in last 24 hours. 71,458 coronavirus patients have recovered in the country whereas many are in critical condition. Covid-19 recovery rate inched up to 49.6 per cent from 49 per cent because of the provincial government’s timely steps against the contagion, the Sindh government told the Supreme Court on Monday.
In a report on the coronavirus situation in the province submitted to the apex court in compliance with its directives in the suo motu case related to the Covid-19 crisis, the provincial government stated the fatality rate in the province is 1.5 per cent. It said the number of infections jumped from 32,910 to 59,983 in just two weeks. A total of 329,443 tests were conducted as of June 7.
There are 11,680 beds available in isolation centres and 332 beds in intensive care units (ICU). 11,486 tests are being conducted on a daily basis with smart lockdowns being enforced in the areas affected by the virus. The Sindh government stated that sanitary workers are being provided with personal protective equipment (PEE) and their salaries will be disbursed to them in a week. Funds are also being set aside for provision of protective clothing to sanitary workers, it added.
1,464 fresh coronavirus cases were detected in Sindh in the past 24 hours after 9,841 tests conducted in the province. Chief Minister of Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah in a statement on the coronavirus situation said that the total number of infections across the province has soared to 71,092 as the province conducted a total of 3,88,690 tests. Shah said that 14 more patients of coronavirus died in the last 24 hours across the province, taking death toll from COVID-19 to 1,103.
The chief minister said that 32,945 coronavirus patients are undergoing treatment in Sindh, including 31,390 quarantined at homes, 47 at isolation centres and 1,508 at hospitals.
617 of the patients under treatment at hospitals are in critical condition and 111 are on ventilators. Murad Ali Shah said that from total 1,464 new coronavirus cases detected in the province in past 24 hours 976 were reported in Karachi, as the city has continued to report majority of the cases in Sindh. In District East of Karachi 297 cases were reported, 282 in District South, 158 cases in District Central, 116 in Korangi district, 32 in Malir and 96 cases reported in District West of the city.
