World News | Former Pak PM Gilani Tests Positive for COVID-19, Govt Rules out Sweeping Lockdown
Get latest articles and stories on World at LatestLY. Pakistan's former prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani tested positive for the coronavirus on Saturday, becoming the latest top political figure to contract COVID-19 that has claimed 2,593 lives and infected 135,702 people in the country.
Islamabad, Jun 13 (PTI) Pakistan's former prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani tested positive for the coronavirus on Saturday, becoming the latest top political figure to contract COVID-19 that has claimed 2,593 lives and infected 135,702 people in the country.
Gilani, 67, tested positive after attending a hearing of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in a corruption case.
On Thursday, Shehbaz Sharif, chief of the Opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), tested positive for the coronavirus after he appeared before the NAB in a money laundering case.
Gilani's son Kasim Gilani announced on Twitter that the former premier had tested positive for the coronavirus.
"Thank you Imran Khan's govt and National Accountability Bureau! You have successfully put my father's life in danger. His COVID-19 result came positive," Kasim said.
Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi also tested positive for the coronavirus on Saturday.
Despite spike in the number of cases, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday ruled out a sweeping lockdown.
Prime Minister Khan, who visited Lahore and held meeting with Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar, Governor Muhammad Sarwar and other officials, reiterated that Pakistan like other countries would not be able to sustain the burden lockdown as it would hurt the people.
“For countries like us, the only option is a smart lockdown so that the burden doesn't fall on poor people,” he said.
The premier's visit to Lahore comes a day after the Punjab government had sent recommendations to the federal government to tighten lockdown measures in the province, in particular Lahore, in a bid to curb the growing number of COVID-19 cases.
Khan rejected the idea of a “sweeping lockdown” in Punjab province to curb the spread of the coronavirus by saying that "selective lockdown" was the only good option.
"After doing analysis of the situation with my Punjab team today, we decided not to do a lockdown but go for a selective lockdown and seal hotspots," he said at a press conference.
Khan said that the administration and police would not be able to impose strict lockdown. He said that volunteers would be used to check that the SOPs were being followed in the country.
Dr Faisal Sultan, the prime minister's focal person on coronavirus, said the government had developed a software to identify coronavirus hotspots.
“This will allow the administration to implement and enforce stricter restrictions or in other words a smart lockdown," he said.
Out of the total 135,702 cases detected so far, Punjab has recorded 50,087. A total of 51,518 infections have been reported in Sindh, 17,450 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 7,866 in Balochistan, 7,163 in Islamabad, 1,044 in Gilgit-Baltistan and 574 in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
There are 820 hospitals with COVID-19 facilities in the country and nearly 9,000 patients are admitted across the country, while others are recuperating in self-isolation at homes, it added.
The government closed down nearly 1,300 hot spots, including several areas in capital Islamabad, on Saturday due to fast spreading of the deadly virus.
"Total 1,292 smart lockdowns enforce throughout the country," National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) said.
It said that the federal and provincial authorities were ensuring compliance with health guidelines and instructions for the working places and following track, test and quarantine strategy.
"To ensure the implementation of the health guidelines/instructions and preventive measures, special teams are operating all across the country to ensure that the SOPs are being implemented," NCOC said.
Meanwhile, Pakistan medical goods watchdog has approved the first indigenously made testing kit for the novel coronavirus.
Minister of Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry said that the kit was developed by the scientists at the army-run National University of Science and Technology (NUST).
The kit was approved by the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) after it completed successful rounds of trials.
"Another landmark achieved.... DRAP has approved Pakistan first COVID testing kit, Congratulations to @Official NUST and our brilliant scientists ...you people have made us proud ... this will bring significant cost reduction of COVID tests also will save huge import bill," Chaudhry tweeted on Friday.
These testing kits will cost one-fourth of the current price for the kits used for detecting COVID-19. The kits have been efficiently tested on laboratory controls and patient samples.
The kit was developed in collaboration with Wuhan Institute of Virology China, DZIF Germany, Columbia University, US and Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Pakistan.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)