ISLAMABAD: As number of coronavirus infection continue to see an upward trend, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has claimed the pandemic will peak by the end of May or in early June.
Chairing a town hall meeting with the Pakistani community in Saudi Arabia via a video link, Qureshi said that nobody knew for sure how long this outbreak would last, hence the policy was being as the situation evolved.
“We have two goals: one is to stop the spread of the epidemic and the other is to ensure that the wheel of the economy continues to turn,” he said. “No one knows how long this epidemic will last. In these circumstances, a country like Pakistan cannot keep a continuous lockdown.”
He opposed an indefinite lockdown in the country, saying this would leave thousands of people unemployed. “Our exports have [already] fallen sharply. A large number of daily-wage earners may lose their livelihood,” he warned.
The foreign minister further said that at least “30,000 Pakistanis from Saudi Arabia want to return and we are making arrangements for their repatriation”.
Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Raja Ali Ejaz told Qureshi that at least 30 Pakistani citizens have died of COVID-19 so far in Saudi Arabia, whereas a total of 150 Pakistani nationals have contracted the disease.
He maintained that the Saudi government was providing best medical facilities to the COVID-19 patients. The ambassador said that the government was taking effective measures to stop the spread of the virus in the country.
