‘20.6m lost jobs, income of 6.7m decreased due to Covid-19’

ISLAMABAD: The 27.3 million people were economically affected during COVID-19 and 20.6 million people lost their jobs, while income of 6.7 million people decreased, however 18.4 million jobs restored after smart lockdown policy.

This was revealed in a survey report on coronavirus prepared by the Ministry of Planning which was presented in the National Assembly, reported a private news channel on Wednesday. The provision of employment is one of the top priorities of the government, the report states.

Meanwhile, the national tally of COVID-19 active cases on Wednesday was recorded 48,506 with 1,560 more people tested positive for the deadly virus and 2,970 people recovered from the disease during the last 24 hours.

Fifty-two corona patients died during past 24 hours, 46 of whom were under treatment in different hospitals and six of them perished in their respective quarantines or homes, according to the latest update issued by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC).

Most of the deaths occurred in Punjab followed by Sindh. Out of the total 52 deaths, 19 of them died were under treatment on ventilators. There were 3,948 COVID infected patients under treatment in critical condition in various COVID dedicated healthcare facilities of the country.

National COVID positivity ratio during past 24 hours was recorded 3.19 percent. The maximum ventilators were occupied in four major cities including Sargodha 40 percent, Bahawalpur 35 percent, Lahore 45 percent and Multan 84 percent. The maximum Oxygen beds (alternate oxygen providing facility other than ventilator administered as per medical requirement of Covid patient) was also occupied in four major cities of Swabi 43 percent, Sargodha 47 percent, Peshawar 45 percent and Bannu 45 percent.

Around 462 ventilators were occupied elsewhere in the country while no Covid affected person was on ventilator in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Balochistan and Gilgit Baltistan (GB). Some 48,836 tests were conducted across the country , including 14,781 in Sindh, 17,800 in Punjab, 10,012 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 4,305 in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), 906 in Balochistan, 299 Gilgit Baltistan (GB) and 733 in AJK. Around 1,167,189 people have recovered from the disease so far across the country making it a significant count with over 90 percent recovery ratio of the affected patients.

Since the pandemic broke out, a total of 1,243,385 cases were detected that also included the perished, recovered and under treatment COVID-19 patients so far, including AJK 34,101, Balochistan 32,888, GB 10,311, ICT 105,287, KP 173,548, Punjab 430,353 and Sindh 456,897. About 27,690 deaths were recorded in country since the eruption of the contagion.

A total of 19,333,471 corona tests have been conducted so far, while 640 hospitals are equipped with COVID facilities across the country. Some 4,154 corona patients were admitted to hospitals.

Meanwhile, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain on Wednesday appreciated National Command and Control Centre’s decision to allow opening of the cinemas in eight cities, including Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

Tagging a notification of NCOC, in a tweet, the minister expressed the hope that Lahore and Karachi administration would increase the vaccination drive so that cinemas in those cities could be opened in the next ten days.