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QUETTA: Chairman National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Lieutenant General Muhammad Afzal facilities are being increased at the hospitals to deal with coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking to the media men in Quetta on Tuesday, Chairman NDMA, Lt. General Muhammad Azfal said that Pakistan can overcome the pandemic if the SOPs were implemented in the true spirit. He ensured strict implementation of the SOPs on the Eidul Azha and added that there is no other way till now to overcome the COVID-19 outbreak. Replying to a question, he said that nine air crafts of the NDMA are taking part in anti-locusts spray operation and vowed to control over the swarms of the locusts.
It is pertinent to mention here that Ministry for Food Security and Research on June 21 announced that they are looking to initiate a program against locust swarm infestation in the country with the help of World Bank (WB). According to a notification issued by the ministry on the matter, World Bank has offered an amount of $200 million to fend off and kill the locust swarms overwhelming agricultural land in Pakistan.
An additional $150 million were also promised by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to help the country fight the critters.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Punjab Usman Buzdar has said that coronavirus cases in the province have decreased due to smart lockdown strategy.
In a statement, Usman Buzdar said steps taken by Prime Minister to overcome the pandemic are being lauded at the international level. “Those doing negative politics on coronavirus have saw the defeat.”
The CM said the number of recovered patients in Punjab are increasing with every passing day. He also lauded the role of the National Command and Control Centre (NCOC). He also urged the masses to follow standard operating procedures (SOPs) on Eidul Azha to get themselves safe from the COVID-19 and other diseases.
The country reported 1,979 coronavirus cases and 50 deaths over the past 24 hours, taking the national tally of infections to 253,603 and fatalities to 5,320. 1,979 new cases were detected after 21,020 tests were conducted in the previous 24 hours, according to the NCOC.
