3,200 Covid-19 tests being conducted in Punjab in a day: CM Buzdar

SAHIWAL: While 3,200 Coronavirus tests are being conducted in Punjab on a daily basis, the provincial government wants to enhance the province’s testing capacity to 10,000 tests in a day, Chief Minister Usman Buzdar said on Monday.

Speaking to media after his visit to Sahiwal’s DHQ Teaching Hospital, he said labs are being set up in all districts of the province.

CM Buzdar said a sum of Rs22.75 billion has been disbursed among deserving families under the Ehsaas Emergency Cash Programme.

To a question, he said the government’s foremost priority at the moment is to eliminate the virus, adding that it will turn its focus on uplift schemes once the province comes out of this coronavirus crisis.

Earlier, he visited Tehsil Headquarter Hospital, Dipalpur to review arrangements at isolation wards for Covid-19 patients.

The number of coronavirus cases in the country has reached 8,418, including 3,721 in Punjab and 2,537 in Sindh.

Earlier, Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on National Security Division and Strategic Policy Planning Dr Moeed Yusuf had said the government’s focus is on ramping up the country’s testing capacity.

He said the government initially tried to stop the virus from transmitting into the country but now concentrated all its efforts on arresting its spread in the country.

After having enhanced its testing capacity, the SAPM said, the government would track and test the people who are asymptomatic but may have come into contact with a coronavirus patient to identify the areas affected by the virus, which would help the government to move towards a “smart lockdown” to stem the virus.