World slowly coming to same decision on lockdown as PM Imran envisaged: Asad Umar

ISLAMABAD: Federal Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar said on Friday that the entire world is coming to the same decision on lockdown against the pandemic, as Prime Minister Imran Khan earlier envisaged and emphasised in his speeches.

The federal minister said that the government is saying since day one that it is imperative to save people from financial woes.

Umar said that the countries around the world have started to ease the lockdown restrictions as ‘they started to see what Imran Khan saw two months ago’.

“We do not blindly follow the West and we are not ashamed of it,” said the federal minister.

Giving example of the UK, Umar said that the country saw more deaths than Sweden which enforced a targeted lockdown.

‘Cases on the rise but situation still under control’

The federal minister said that in Pakistan, the coronavirus cases are mounting day by day but the situation is still under control.

Umar said that data has shown that the disease will not spread so quickly that the entire health system gets crumbled down.

The minister said that the world has a chance against the disease if there is a vaccine available.

He said that across the country, there were more than ‘500’ virus hotspots identified and appropriate action was taken to quarantine those areas.

“Today there are 70 labs in Pakistan which can do tests for the coronavirus,” he said.

The minister said that Pakistan has equally capable doctors and experts as around the world.

“Today, more than 13,500 tests were conducted. Will increase this number too,” he added.

The minister informed said that the government is also ramping up number of ventilators across the country and more than 100,000 health workers were also trained regarding safety gear usage.

Umar said that under the Ehsaas programme, more than one billion rupees have been disbursed to more than 800,000 families. The minister warned that the world, including Pakistan, will now have to ‘co-exist’ with the virus as even China’s Wuhan is having new cases despite bringing the situation under control.