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Thursday March 28, 2024

Minister sees steep decline in virus cases in country

By Our Correspondent
July 15, 2020

LAHORE:The Government College University Lahore's Mahbubul Haq Economic Society organised a webinar “Smart Lockdown and its Impact” which was addressed by Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry.

According to a press release, GCU Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Asghar Zaidi moderated the webinar which was attended by a large number of students and faculty members through Zoom application.

In his address, Federal Minister Fawad Chaudhry said the complete lockdown was not possible in countries where there had been no system of social protection. “Pakistan has witnessed the peak of COVID-19 cases last month, as mentioned earlier by the Ministry of Science and Technology, and now there was a steep decline of almost 40 percent in cases,” he added.

The minister said if you look at the minutes of the meetings of National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), you would find that almost all the decisions regarding opening of different sectors and industries were taken with 99.9 percent consensus.

Fawad Chaudhry said from masks to ventilators, Pakistan had been importing all protective gears and medical supplies from China when the first case of virus was reported back in February 2020. “But now, the situation has completely changed and we are making almost all protective gears and medical equipment and soon Pakistan would start exporting the ventilators to other countries of the world,” he added.

The minister appreciated that GCU provided a data management mechanism to NCOC which helped them. He stressed the need for a study that which kind of human resource Pakistan would need in the future. He also responded to queries of students and faculty members.

In reply to question, the minister said this year Eidul Azha would be celebrated on 31 July, 2020, and advised the people to strictly observe SOPs for their own protection and safety of their loved ones. Prof Dr Asghar Zaidi said they had started this series of webinars to bridge a connection between policy-makers and academia. He appreciated the hard work of Fawad Chaudhry in the Ministry of Science and Technology that resulted in tangible and beneficial results.

The VC also discussed the students concerns regarding stability and spread of internet in the country. GCU faculty deans Prof Dr Adnan Ahmad, Prof Dr Sultan Shah and Prof Dr Riaz Ahmad also attended the webinar alongside members of Mahbubul Haq Economics Society.