'COVID-19 cases in Pakistan could surpass 1 million mark by July'

ISLAMABAD: The health experts have warned that the number of COVID-19 cases would be increased above 1 million in Pakistan, the head of National Command and Control Centre (NCOC) Asad Umar said on Tuesday.

The Federal Minister for Planning and Development and NCOC head, Asad Umar, while talking to ARY News programme ’11th Hour’, said that the federal authorities were continuing its efforts to increase the COVID-19 testing capacity to 100,000 which currently stood at 50,000 on a daily basis.

“The tests would be conducted on the basis of the statistics provided by the authorities to measure the spread of the virus, however, the testing capacity will be increased to 100,000 by July.”

Read: COVID-19 hotspots in six more Punjab cities to go under lockdown

Asad Umar announced that the federal government will take ‘targeted quarantine actions’ on large-scale across the country during the next 48 hours. He reiterated that the number of infections would be dangerously increased if the citizens failed to adopt precautionary measures.

He said that different countries around the world were lifting lockdown measures while the federal government had also decided to relax the restrictions in favour of the nation and economy.

Read: COVID-19 cases: Four more sectors to be sealed in Islamabad

Umar criticised that Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari was the only person in the National Assembly which had suggested to impose lockdown.

He added that the speech of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) senior leader, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, had also launched criticism in his speech instead of highlighting a solution of the issue. The PML-N policy was very unclear over the lockdown measures, said Umar.