Punjab to have capacity for daily 10,000 coronavirus tests soon: CM Usman Buzdar

LAHORE: Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar has announced that the province will soon achieve the capacity of conducting 10,000 coronavirus diagnostic tests daily.

He said that the establishment of eight new labs in different districts was near completion. While presiding over a meeting of assembly members from Rawalpindi at Commissioner's Office in Rawalpindi, the CM said that field hospitals had been set up in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Sargodha and other districts with a total capacity of 4,500 beds, which could also be increased to 10,000 beds, said a handout issued here.

More than 43,000 coronavirus tests had been conducted in the province so far, he said. The lockdown strategy had yielded positive results and the construction industry was being restarted under specific SOPs.

The construction of roads, hospitals and schools will be resumed in the first phase with some stipulations while the resumption of different industries will be reviewed on a case-to-case basis, he added.

He made it clear that the commissioner concerned will be empowered to ease or intensify the lockdown conditions and a procedure was also being designed to provide necessary relief to the citizens in the holy month of Ramazan.

The purpose of easing the lockdown conditions was to facilitate the general public, he maintained. Meanwhile, he stated that personal protective equipment and other materials were being arranged daily while financial aid under Insaf Imdad Programme will be provided purely on merit.

The CM said that anti-dengue campaign was being launched, adding that wheat procurement target will also be achieved. He told that out of 2,945 patients in the province, 508 had recovered and the arrangements were being made to inoculate the plasma of recovered patients in patients in severe condition.

The CM also directed the administration to devise a strategy to overcome the menace of professional beggary. The assembly members congratulated the CM on the praise of Punjab government by the apex court and said that this had proved the performance of Usman Buzdar. Provincial Ministers Dr Yasmeen Rashid, Raja Rashid Hafeez and parliamentarians attended the meeting.