Ag APP
ISLAMABAD: Planning minister Asad Umar on Tuesday cautioned that lifting lockdowns or the reopening of all sectors in the country did not mean that the Covid-19 outbreak had ended and announced the government was switching to a “micro smart lockdown”.
Addressing a media briefing here, the minister said the government had decided to reopen various sectors “only for the sake of people, but unfortunately people were getting the impression that the coronavirus had ended”.
The minister said neighbours India and Iran were still suffering from the pandemic. During the past 10 days, he said, the positivity ratio of tests conducted in Pakistan was 3 per cent while in Iran 9.4 and in India and Bangladesh it was 9.8 per cent and 24 per cent respectively.
Similarly, he said, as compared to Pakistan the death ratio in Iran was 20 times higher, whereas in India it was five times and in Bangladesh it was two times higher.
“If all this is happening in our immediate neighbourhood, this can happen in Pakistan as well so I urge the people to please follow SOPs to avoid any new wave of the pandemic in Pakistan,” he added.
The minister said the government was switching towards “micro smart lockdown” in which small localities such as a building with multiple units or small neighbourhood would be targeted, instead of big areas.
His warning came a day after most coronavirus restrictions were lifted across the country, as dine-in services returned to restaurants, gyms and salons opened their doors to service. However, social media was awash with photos and videos of people crowding restaurants with almost non-existent compliance with social distancing guidelines or masks.
Over the past 24 hours, Pakistan saw 531 new confirmed cases of coronavirus and 15 deaths. Total cases are over 285,000 with a death toll over 6,100, according to official figures. In the media briefing, Umar said chief secretaries of all provinces had been directed to maintain a strict vigil on the newly reopened sectors to avoid violations of standard operating procedures.
Umar, who is also the chairman of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), said restrictions were lifted only because people had so far “fully cooperated” with the government and followed guidelines to contain spread of Covid-19.
“The government could not have done anything if the people had not cooperated with it,” the minister said. He also commended the media for effectively disseminating the government’s messages to the people.
The minister recalled that by mid-June, the Imperial College London had predicted an alarming situation for Pakistan which said as many as 78,000 people could be dying of Covid-19 by August 10. “Only 15 people died in the previous day,” he said, and credited the government’s response.
He praised the government’s contact tracing system. “Under the strategy, 1.1 million contacts were traced out of which over one million tests were conducted and the positivity ratio of such tests was 10.5 per cent.”
Further, he said that out of the total 285,000 positive cases in the country, over 100,000 were confirmed from tests conducted through the contact tracing system.
He said the strategy remained “extremely effective” in controlling the disease, as through one corona patient, they managed to reach 10.8 contacts. “Now NCOC teams are also providing training to all provinces,” he added. ““South Africa is considered to be a role model in contact tracing and now Pakistan has also reached that level.”
The minister added that so far, as many as 2,350 smart lockdowns were imposed and at one time about 700-800 lockdowns were imposed across the country. “At present, there are 85 lockdowns in 20 districts,” he added.
He said at one stage, Pakistan’s exports and revenue collection was reduced by 40 per cent each due to the lockdown. This reduction means the income of millions was halted, he said, adding with the help of government revenues, development projects run.
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