-Land borders with Iran, Afghanistan sealed
-Over 200,000 vaccinated in single day
-Int’l flights reduced by 80%
-Punjab decides to impose complete lockdown from May 8
-COVID kills 119, infects 4,113 more people
By Ali Imran
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the federal government to determine the price of oxygen cylinders needed for coronavirus patients and also devise a mechanism in this regard.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed issued the directions on a plea by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government while hearing a suo motu case regarding measures taken to deal with the Covid-19 crisis.
The KP advocate general informed the court that due to a price not having been set, suppliers were charging exorbitant rates for oxygen cylinders, which are crucial for the treatment of critically ill Covid-19 patients. After the chief of the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Drap) disassociated his agency from the issue, the court ordered the Ministry of Industries and Production to devise a mechanism and determine the price of oxygen cylinders within two days.
During the hearing, the apex court also termed as unsatisfactory reports submitted by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and the Sindh government regarding measures taken to fight Covid-19. Chief Justice Ahmed remarked that a large quantity of oxygen could be generated by the oxygen plant of Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM), directing authorities to make it functional.
However, the additional attorney general informed the court that the oxygen plant at PSM was 40 years old, and reviving it would cost Rs1 billion.
The court ordered the government lawyer to submit a detailed report regarding the availability of oxygen.
The chief justice also inquired why the government had allowed the import of unregistered drugs and medical equipment, wondering how the government will know which products were being imported. While expressing concern over the state of quarantine centres in the country, Chief Justice Ahmed directed the NDMA chairman to immediately visit the facilities.
“Tens of millions of rupees were spent on quarantine centres but everyone knows the conditions of Haji Camp quarantine centre in Karachi there is no water there and neither was it painted,” the top judge remarked. He directed the health secretary to submit a fresh report regarding the government measures to tackle the pandemic.
Meanwhile, Pakistan sealed its land borders with Iran and Afghanistan over apprehensions regarding transmission of new variants of the coronavirus to the country. “The routes to the border have been completely sealed,” border officials said. Pakistan had on Sunday announced to revise its land border management policy with neighboring Iran and Afghanistan. In view of the recommendations of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) competent authorities have taken the decision in order to halt the transfer of new variants of coronavirus from the neighboring countries with revision in the land border management policy.
The revised land border management policy came into force from the midnight between 4 and 5 May. The new border policy will remain in force until the midnight of 19 and 20 May, according to the NCOC. The new policy being implemented over the people who will cross the border on foot.
The new rules of the policy will not be implementable over the cargo, bilateral trade and the Afghan Transit Trade, the NCOC stated. Iran, Afghan border terminals will remain open for the entire week, according to the NCOC statement. Vaccination Campaign: Pakistan’s daily vaccinations against Covid-19 surpassed the 200,000 mark the previous day (Tuesday), Asad Umar, the head of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) said on Wednesday.
Taking to the micro-blogging site Twitter, the planning and development minister said registration for vaccination has also gathered pace as the number of people signing up for vaccination has surpassed the 5 million figure. Flights operation: Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has slashed 80 international flights in the light of National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) directives to contain the surge of the third wave of coronavirus.
The restrictions will remain imposed till May 20.
Following the directives of the CAA, international flights operation has been reduced to 123 weekly international flights from 590. Only 40 international flights weekly would be allowed to land at Karachi International Airport amid the COVID threat, while the earlier number was 189.Similarly, Islamabad airport will entertain 25 international flights instead of 120, Quetta airport two instead of ten flights, Faisalabad airport eight, and Multan airport will receive eight inbound flights instead of 41.
