Asad Umar urges masses to take precautions against COVID-19

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar has once again urged people of Pakistan to wear masks and maintain social distancing if they want to “defend” themselves and their loved ones from the novel coronavirus.

Addressing a press conference today (Sunday) in Islamabad, he said that wearing masks is mandatory for slowing down the spread of coronavirus as some studies suggest that the coronavirus outbreak could decrease by 50 percent by covering the mouth alone.

However, he said, keeping a social distance is of equal importance. Asad Umar further said that stern actions against the violators of the standard operating procedures (SOPs) would be taken.

The minister said that administrative actions have been started to protect the people from the disease, adding that various shops, transport, and individuals have been fined for not implementing the SOPs.

The Planning Minister also issued a stark warning and said that the confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus could double by the end of this month and reach 1 to 1.2 million by the end of July.

“We’re in mid-June and the confirmed cases have reached approximately 150,000. It saddens me to say that based on our current trajectory of spread, experts have predicted that our cases could double,” he added.

He said that the “good news” is that the potential spike in confirmed cases was avoidable, provided the government and the people work together to stop it.

Commenting on the lockdown, he said, “Imposing lockdowns for the long term is not feasible as the world has also realized it now.” He further said that Prime Minister Imran Khan was always of the view that COVID-19 could be controlled by precautionary measures.

“We have to enforce smart lockdowns in hotspots because this way we can stop the spread in areas that are witnessing outbreaks,” he added.

The federal minister also said that the PTI-led federal government aims to conduct 100,000 Covid-19 tests by the end of July.

“We were only testing 500 people at the start [of the pandemic]. Now we are able to conduct 30,000 tests per day and the NCOC has decided to take our testing capacity to more than 100,000 tests per day by the end of July,” he concluded.