LAHORE: The Punjab government on Sunday issued a notification, directing all persons, individuals, and entities involved in philanthropic activities to reroute them through the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) to maintain social distancing and contain the coronavirus from spreading.
The PDMA observed that "widespread philanthropic activity in the province of Punjab is violating and compromising the public health safety and social distancing protocols issued by Government of Punjab for mitigation of COVID-19".
The authority said that philanthropic work being carried out in the province must be routed through the PDMA or the deputy commissioner of the area should be informed about it.
"Philanthropic activity by any individual, organization or any other entity in the province of Punjab, shall be routed through Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), which shall organize the same under standards and protocols set by the Government of the Punjab; OR If any individual, organization or any other entity, who/which intends to undertake philanthropic activity on its own, shall submit an application to the Deputy Commissioner in whose jurisdiction the philanthropic activity is proposed," read the notification.
Any person found in violation of the directives shall be held liable for committing a criminal offence, stated the PDMA.
The announcement from the provincial government comes as the number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in Pakistan surged past 3,000 on Sunday. More than 40 people have so far died from the infection which continues to spread each day.
On Saturday, the government had submitted a report to the Supreme Court of Pakistan on its national action plan for combating the coronavirus epidemic.
“By April 25, the number of the coronavirus cases are feared to reach 50,000,” the report stated.
As per the breakdown in the report, around 7,000 cases of the total are expected to be critical in nature while around 2,500 could be a cause for concern. The government estimates that a further 41,000 cases could be of a mild nature.
The federal government had said that it has put in place an emergency plan costing $366 million and guidelines have been prepared in consultation from the medical experts.