Daily coronavirus testing capacity to be increased to 100,000 by July: Asad Umar

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar said on Sunday that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government intends to enhance the daily coronavirus testing capacity to 100,000 by next month, ARY News reported.

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, the federal minister said that daily coronavirus testing capacity in the country is expected to increase to 150,000 by next 4-6 weeks.

“It is very much important to increase the daily Covid-19 testing capacity. We will try to increase the testing capacity to 100,000 by the end of July,” he added.

Speaking about the number of confirmed coronavirus cases, the minister said that the total number of Covid-19 cases in the country has reached closer to 150,000 which are likely to increase two-fold by the end of this month.

As a result of enhanced testing now the daily number of infections are increasing, he said.

Asad Umar cautioned that by the end of next month, the same number could increase to reach at 1 to 1.2 million cases.

Read More: Pakistan records 6,825 new COVID-19 cases, 81 deaths in past 24 hours

The minister once again urged people to wear masks and maintain social distancing if they want to “defend” themselves and their loved ones from the novel coronavirus.

“Wearing masks is mandatory for slowing down the spread of disease as some studies suggest that the pace of virus spread could decrease by 50 percent by covering the mouth alone,” explained the minister.

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 standard operating procedures (SOPs).

He further said that Punjab government will announce today the strategy for actions in areas which are hotspots of the disease.  “We have to maintain smart lockdowns in hotspots because this way we can stop the spread in areas.”

The federal government will assist the Punjab government in smart lockdowns to curtail the spread of disease, he added.