Coronavirus cases in Pak cross over 36,000; PM says country more vulnerable to poverty, hunger

Islamabad, May 14

Pakistan is extra susceptible to poverty and starvation than the coronavirus-induced lockdown and it is very important maintain a stability between well being wants and monetary issues of the individuals, Prime Minister Imran Khan mentioned on Thursday even because the variety of COVID-19 instances in Pakistan rose to 36,717 and the dying toll to 788.

Khan chaired a gathering of National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) to debate the newest pandemic state of affairs within the nation.

Addressing the assembly, Khan mentioned it is very important maintain a stability between well being wants and monetary issues of the individuals.

“Our population is more vulnerable to poverty and hunger than lockdown. We should take decisions by keeping in mind the ground reality about the problems faced by the people,” he mentioned.

Khan mentioned adopting security measures was a key to battle the illness however as a substitute of pressured implementation, the individuals ought to be sensitised to undertake them. The assembly additionally mentioned the problem of opening transport and procuring plazas however no determination was taken on the 2 points.

Later, Khan tweeted that NCOC reviewed the nation’s coronavirus state of affairs throughout its 20th consecutive session.

“The meeting took an in-depth review of existing beds, ventilators and other medical facilities in hospitals, keeping in view the projections of possible spread of #Covid-19 and present data. Purpose of thorough examination of existing facilities was to gauge the capacity of hospitals,” the Prime Minister’s Office mentioned.

The assembly additionally reviewed progress on implementing commonplace working procedures and pointers at a provincial degree.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Khan joined world leaders in calling for a “people’s vaccine” to fight the coronavirus.

The Prime Minister’s Office quoted the premier as saying: “We must work together to beat this virus.”                

Emphasising the necessity for pooling assets, he added that “no leader can rest easy until every individual in every nation is able to access a vaccine free of charge”.

The variety of confirmed COVID-19 instances in Pakistan rose to 36,717 on Thursday. Punjab reported 13,561 instances, Sindh 14,099, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa 5,423, Balochistan 2,239, Islamabad 822, Gilgit-Baltistan 482 and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir 91 instances.

Prime Minister Khan will take part in a gathering to be organised beneath COVID Action Platform of World Economic Forum (WEF), the Radio Pakistan reported.

As lockdown was eased, Pakistan resumed commerce actions with Iran at Taftan after two commerce gateways have been reopened, which have been closed two-and-a-half months in the past as a result of coronavirus outbreak. PTI