Spectre of 1.2m virus cases looms over Pakistan

By News Desk

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s coronavirus cases may balloon to 1.2 million next month if government advice to check its spread continues to be ignored, planning minister Asad Umar warned on Sunday, as the country witnessed another record spike of 6,825 infections in a 24-hour-period.

“By the middle of June, we [may] have around 150,000 cases. If such a situation prevails and no change [in behaviour] is made, then according to the experts, the number could increase two-fold to 300,000 by the end of the current month and could also surge to around one million to 1.2 million by the end of next month,” Umar said in a media briefing after chairing a meeting of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Sunday.

The minister’s dire warning came as people across the country continue to flout government-issued standard operating procedures (SOPs), which the WHO says has contributed to an alarming rise in coronavirus cases. The country’s total cases now stand at 139,050 with 2,632 deaths (88 more in 24 hours) according to the government’s morning update.

“This is of course a matter of worry, but the good thing is that we have the capability to avoid such a situation by taking administrative action,” Umar said, referring to measures currently being taken against the violators of SOPs.

He revealed that the NCOC has decided to take “stricter administrative action” to prevent the outbreak from spreading further. “The government does not want to hurt people but it is the constitutional — as well as the moral responsibility — of the government to prevent them from [spreading] the disease,” he added.

The minister also said the capacity of the health system was also being improved. In this regard, he said, the NCOC had also decided to increase testing capacity from the current 40,000-50,000 per day to around 150,000 tests a day within four to six weeks — “which means that we would be testing around 100,000 people on a daily basis by mid-July”.

About the availability of beds with oxygen for coronavirus patients, Umar said at present around 2,000 patients were on oxygen beds across the country. Keeping in view the growing numbers of patients, the federal government will provide 1,000 more by the end of this month and another thousand by the end of next month.

“We will provide 500 beds each to Sindh and Punjab provinces, 450 to Islamabad, 400 beds to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 200 beds to Balochistan, 60 to Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and 40 beds to Gilgit-Baltistan,” he said. The minister once again urged the public to wear masks. According to the experts, wearing masks was the most effective way to control the pandemic as it could help decreasing the spread rate by up to 50 per cent, he said. He added that social distancing was the second most important requirement the people should follow.

“It has been repeatedly advised that the people should avoid going out of their homes unnecessarily, however if going out is unavoidable, observe social distancing whether you are in the market, at work or anywhere else,” he added.

He warned that in order to save the greatest number of people from the disease, strict actions would be taken against those who do not follow SOPs. Some shops and even markets would be sealed in such circumstances, he added.

In Islamabad, the government has taken actions and some areas were sealed. Similar actions would also be taken in Lahore and other cities of Punjab, the minister said.

Earlier in the day, the NCOC released details of selective complete lockdowns in areas across the country. Muzaffarabad, a city of over 200,000 people, has been quarantined, as have two sectors of Islamabad, which affects a population of 50,000.