–PM’s aide says number of Pakistanis testing positive for virus on arrival last week is much higher than govt’s expectation
–Says Pakistan’s quarantine facilities can accommodate ‘only 7,500 to 8,000 people at a time’
ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to Prime Minister on National Security Dr Moeed Yusuf on Saturday revealed that there was a surge in positive COVID-19 in the passengers arriving through international flights during the last week, which was beyond the government’s expectation, therefore the number of passengers had been reduced to prevent an increase in cases.
Addressing a press conference alongside PM’s Special Assistant on Health Dr Zafar Mirza, Yusuf said: “Till now, we have repatriated 15,000 nationals while more than 100,000 Pakistanis are still stranded in 88 different countries.”
Giving a breakdown, Yusuf said more than 15,000 nationals were stranded in Saudi Arabia. “Those wishing to return home need to register with the [Pakistani] embassies [in their respective countries],” he said.
“The embassies will then decide depending on the urgency which flight you can board and on what date. The embassies are playing a crucial role in our fight against the pandemic,” he added.
“Our main goal is to stem the spread of the virus,” he said, adding: “People that return are tested after 48 hours of their arrival, getting the results takes a further day or day and a half, after which it is determined if they should go home and stay in self-isolation or be kept in quarantine.”
Yusuf clarified that there are no exemptions for anyone with regard to the virus-detection mechanism. However, he said passengers have the choice to either isolate on their own expense in a hotel or stay for free in government facilities.”
He lamented that while the government is following the international procedure of testing citizens returning from abroad, there are some influential people who are trying to escape this system.
“We want all Pakistanis to return as soon as possible but in a safe manner. We cannot have them coming back and infecting their loved ones, which is why we cannot give any exemption from testing to anyone,” Yousuf said.
“Sometimes it happens that one person tests negative while everyone else on the flight around them tests positive, in that case, their province decides what to do.
“The reason that the repatriation process is slow is that we are following the procedure to quarantine these people. Our quarantine facilities can take from 7,500 to 8,000 people at a time.”
“Another reason is that a lot of airports and flights are not functioning so we have to take permission for every flight and we can only operate some flights.
HIGHEST NUMBER OF TESTS CONDUCTED ON FRIDAY: MIRZA
Speaking on the occasion, Mirza said that on Friday Pakistan conducted the highest number of tests yet.
“We conducted 9,164 tests conducted yesterday, the highest so far and we expect the testing capacity to also increase further,” he said, adding that most numbers of patients in the last 24 hours were from Sindh. They reported 622 cases yesterday.
“The highest number of deaths reported in 24 hours is 32, this was reported yesterday,” he added.
“Out of 32 deaths, 31 occurred at hospitals and one at home. 14 of these people were on ventilators.
“Pakistan’s death rate is still less than the projected numbers and secondly when we see the worldwide situation, it is far less than that. If you take care of yourself, it is guaranteed that you and your family will stay safe.”
He said initially those businesses would be allowed to operate where there were less chances of the spread of the disease. He said SOPs had also been issued regarding taking preventive measures by the construction industry.
He added that the policy of smart lockdown could be successfully implemented if citizens fully cooperate with the government. He said people would be informed through media about their responsibilities and the citizens can also visit official websites to know about these SOPs.
