ISLAMABAD: Minister for Planning, Development, Reforms and Special Initiatives Asad Umar on Sunday said that creating awareness among people about COVID-19 was necessary to effectively contain the pandemic.
Chairing a meeting of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), he said that public awareness and education on COVID-19 safety guidelines and preventive measures was the best possible tool to cope with the coronavirus pandemic.
Umar also highlighted the need to gather feedback on locally manufactured samples of N-95 masks. He said there was need to analyse the capacity of indigenous production of N-95 masks and mull over to the extent for scaling up that production.
He also suggested the formation of an inter-ministerial group of relevant ministries with Ministry of Industries as its member.
The minister mentioned that there was also need to find gap between the guidelines and impart policy after through discussion whereas guidance would be sought from the Ministry of Health in this regard.
He also asked the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) chairman to apprise the meeting about the medical equipment imported and the strategy adopted for its disbursement.
The minister also asked the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Ministry of Health and Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) to devise guidelines for patients placed under quarantine. It needs to be developed before the holy month of Ramzan, he added.
Minister for Interior Brigadier (R) Ijaz Shah, Minister for Energy Omar Ayub, Minister for Industries Hammad Azhar, Minister for Food Security Fakhar Imam and Minister for Economic Affairs Khusro Bakhtiar, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on National Security Dr Moeed Yusuf, Prime Minister’s Focal Person for COVID-19 Dr Faisal Sultan and NCOC Chief Coordinator Lieutenant General Hamood Uz Zaman also expressed their views during the meeting.
Separately, addressing the media, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on National Security Division Dr Moeed Yusuf said that 98,500 tests have been conducted so far in the country, with 7,847 tests in the last 24 hours.
He added that a 17 times increase has been made in the number of tests since 15th of last month.
The special assistant said that testing is the main thing in the government’s strategy. “We are working to enhance our testing capacity to conduct 20,000 tests daily by the end of this month,” he added.
Dr Yusuf said that it is imperative that people follow the precautionary measures, including social distancing, washing of hands and other guidelines given by the government from time to time.
He said that Torkham border has been opened and people in batches of five hundred will be allowed to cross the border. He said that Pakistanis coming from abroad will be held under quarantine for 48 hours and will be tested for coronavirus. Those who test positive will be quarantined for 14 days, he added.
Dr Yusuf said that 6,000 overseas Pakistanis will return to the country through 17 flights of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and some other airlines next week. He said that priority will be given to bring those Pakistani labourers back who have been rendered jobless in the Middle Eastern countries. He added that Pakistanis stranded in other countries will also be repatriated in cooperation with some international airlines.
