PTI senator says corona situation under control

PESHAWAR: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senator Zeeshan Khanzada said on Tuesday that like other countries Pakistan also faced severe socio-economic impact due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Talking to reporters here, the young senator from Mardan said that even the developed countries were unprepared to face this pandemic. He said the country’s medical infrastructure was weak and it could not respond to such an emergency. He added that the social conditions and lifestyle of the people in the country also hampered the efforts to contain the spread of the Covid-19.

Senator Zeeshan Khanzada said that despite initial mishandling of the pandemic that happened in every country, the PTI government’s initiatives were timely and appropriate as the experts had predicted that at the end of April the number of the infected people was expected to be around 90,000 with a few thousand deaths but now even in early May the situation seemed under control.

The PTI senator observed that a complete lockdown was neither possible given our social conditions nor bearable for the country for a long time. “Pakistan cannot afford a prolonged lockdown as we have millions of people living below poverty line. The economy was in bad shape when the PTI government came to power and it was in the process of economic recovery in the last 18 months,” he said.

He felt the idea of social distancing presented by the prime minister was the most intelligent approach with gradual reopening of the economy.

He said the support extended to millions of families and the formation of the ‘Tiger Force’ was the best possible response of the government to cope with the situation. He said that convening the Senate session could be risky in the prevailing circumstances. Zeeshan Khanzada paid rich tributes to the health workers treating the Covid-19 patients. He said the health workers should be provided the personal protective equipment on priority basis.

He appealed to the political leaders to help the government fight the Covid-19 pandemic and donate generously to the corona relief fund established by Prime Minister Imran Khan.