Ag Agencies
LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: Punjab became Pakistan’s new coronavirus epicentre on Saturday after the province — with confirmed infections approaching 500 — raced past Sindh with the highest number of cases in the country.
The number of cases in Pakistan’s most populous province rose to 497 by mid-Saturday, according to the Punjab health department. In a tweet, the department said of the total infections, 207 are pilgrims from Taftan currently housed at the Dera Ghazi Khan quarantine.
After the surge in Punjab’s cases, the nationwide tally stood at 1,415 at the time of this report. Sindh has 457 cases, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 180, Balochistan 133, Islamabad 39, Gilgit-Baltistan 107 and Azad Jammu and Kashmir two. There have been a total of 11 deaths in the country, five of which occurred in Punjab.
Special Assistant to Prime Minister for Health Dr Zafar Mirza told a news conference Saturday afternoon that the country had over 1,400 confirmed cases of the infection with 173 fresh cases detected in the last 24 hours. However, he added there were currently 12,218 suspected cases of the disease in the country. While Special Assistant to Prime Minister for National Security Moeed Yusuf said outgoing flights would be halted from tomorrow (Sunday) till April 4. If countries wanted to take their citizens out of the country, it will be decided on a “case by case” basis.
Separately, Foreign Minister Qureshi held a telephonic conversation with British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab to “discuss matters related to the global outbreak of coronavirus and prospects of enhanced bilateral cooperation to jointly tackle the pandemic”.
According to the Foreign Office, Qureshi conveyed deep condolences over the tragic loss of innocent lives in the UK due to Covid-19 and sent his good wishes for early recovery of Prince Charles and Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who had also been tested positive for the Covid-19 disease.
Qureshi apprised his counterpart that the British nationals residing in Pakistan were being taken care of and assured him of their return after the normalcy. The foreign minister lauded the steps being taken by the UK authorities to combat the infectious virus and thanked British authorities for taking care of the Pakistani community in the UK.
He informed Foreign Secretary Raab about the latest situation of outbreak in Pakistan and the steps taken by the government for its containment.
The foreign minister highlighted that debt relief for developing countries like Pakistan would enable them to devote greater resources to fight Covid-19 pandemic and mitigate its economic fallout.
He hoped that being a member of the G-7 and G-20 countries, the UK would play its role to carry forward the said proposal. The British foreign secretary thanked the foreign minister for the call and his expression of solidarity. He concurred that enhanced global cooperation was key to combat the pandemic.
Qureshi also expressed concerns over the continuing communications blackout in Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, which is depriving eight million Kashmiris of critical information and essential medical supplies needed to effectively contain the pandemic. He also reiterated the need to lift sanctions against Iran, enabling it to utilise its resources to save precious human lives.
Raab hinted at raising the proposal of restructuring of the loans at the appropriate forum. He thanked Qureshi for the call and his expression of solidarity. He concurred that enhanced global cooperation is key to deal with the pandemic. The two sides agreed to work closely and to stay in contact for effective containment of the outbreak.