Pervaiz Elahi led parliamentary body suggests Punjab govt on coronavirus pandemic

LAHORE: Speaker Punjab Assembly Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi on Friday chaired a meeting of the all parliamentary parties’ committee to devise a joint strategy to deal with coronavirus pandemic in the province, ARY NEWS reported.

A joint statement issued after the meeting that comprised 11-members from all political groups in the provincial assembly called for expanding the testing process to identify hotspots of the virus.

The joint statement asked the authorities to take measures aimed at reviving activities at the mosques during the holy month of Ramazan.

It also called for an explanation over the wheat policy from the provincial government along with ensuring special arrangements of sanitization to be made at wheat purchasing centres.

The meeting also recommended the provincial government to conduct a dengue-spray in the province.

The parliamentary body also asked the Punjab government to brief them from time to time over the progress made on all the suggested measures.

Speaking during the meeting, Pervaiz Elahi said that the government would fully implement upon the recommendations forwarded by the parliamentary committee.

It is pertinent to mention here that the confirmed coronavirus cases in Pakistan on Friday reached 4,601, according to the National Command and Operation Centre’s latest statistics.

As many as 284 new cases of the COVID-19 were reported across the country during last 24 hours. So far 467 patients have recovered from the deadly virus, whereas the death toll has surged to 66.

Four more patients died yesterday due to novel coronavirus related complications while 31 currently battle life and death situation at their respective healthcare centers.

According to the breakup of the cases province-wise Punjab tops the list with 2279 cases, while Sindh has recorded 1128 coronavirus cases so far.

620 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 219 in Balochistan, 107 in Islamabad, 215 in Gilgit Baltistan and 33 cases were reported in Azad Kashmir.

Overall 42 per cent of the cases are said to be of local transmission in the country while rest are of the nationals coming from abroad.

The health authorities have overall conducted 44,896 tests including 2,737 tests during the last 24 hours.