-Says Opposition holding rallies to get away with corruption
-Sunday rally to go ahead, says Bilawal
-Critically ill patients on rise, NCOC informed
By Ajmal Khan Yousafzai
ISLAMABAD: Lashing out at the opposition, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday said that Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) was putting people’s lives at risk to hide its corruption amid the worsening COVID-19 situation in the county. Presiding over a meeting of the government’s spokesperson, PM Imran said that the entire world was fighting against the second wave of the COVID-19, adding that instead of protecting people from the deadly virus, PDM was staging the circus in the country.
Talking about the economy, the prime minister said that all the economic indicators were improving with each passing day. He said that due to the effective measures taken by the government, the data from textile sector showed positive trends. On the occasion, the prime minister directed his economic team to use all resources to boost industrialization in the country.
Earlier on November 22, keeping in view the second wave of the novel coronavirus in the country, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz had advised the participants of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) rally in Peshawar to quarantine themselves at their homes.
Commenting on the PDM’s Peshawar rally, Shibli Faraz had urged the participants to get tested for COVID-19. He had maintained, “The coronavirus pandemic is a fact. It is not a fiction.”
PPP chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Friday hit out at the government after more PPP activists were arrested in Multan, vowing that the opposition Pakistan Democratic Movement’s (PDM) November 30 pubic gathering will go ahead.
His statement came in response to a video shared on Twitter by Kasim Gilani, son of former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, showing PPP workers being taken in a police van.
Meanwhile on Friday, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) said Pakistan’s COVID-19 positivity ratio stands at 7.20 per cent.
A meeting of the NCOC with Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar in the chair was informed Friday that the highest test positivity rate was recorded in Peshawar at 19.65 %, followed by Karachi at 17.73%, and Hyderabad at 16.32 %.
The NCOC was briefed that Pakistan’s positivity ratio has soared to 7.20 per cent lately. Sindh recorded the highest positivity ratio at 13.25%, followed by 10.79% witnessed in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, 9.25% in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 6.41% in Balochistan, 5.84% in Islamabad, 4.81% in Gilgit Baltistan, and 3.59% in Punjab.
There are a total of 2,112 critically ill Covid-19 patients across the country but the number of such patients is increasing sharply, the forum was informed.
Asad Umar said protecting the masses from the pandemic is the government’s foremost priority. All-out efforts are being made to contain the spread of the virus with round-the-clock monitoring of the Covid situation, he added.
He stressed the need for people to play an individual and collective role to stem the virus spread, lauding enforcement of SOPs at mosques across the country.
