Lockdown to be lifted on Saturday, announces PM Imran Khan

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan announced on Thursday that the government has decided to lift the lockdown in phases starting from Saturday.

Briefing the nation about decisions made during today’s meeting of the National Coordination Committee (NCC), he said the decision to lift lockdown has been taken to mitigate the suffering of people.

“The decision has been made due to the suffering of our people,” the premier explained.

“We have already opened the construction sector and we are going to open others sectors related to the construction industry,” he announced.

“Every sector is reeling under difficulties at present, small traders, rickshaw and taxi drivers, as well as labourers, are facing great hardships due to [to the lockdown],” he pointed out, adding no one can say for sure if coronavirus cases will see a spike after relaxation in the lockdown. “We can’t afford to keep the country shut for a long time.”

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Prime Minister Khan said the government rolled out the biggest relief package in Pakistan’s history to support the downtrodden segment of society and people who lost their jobs due to the coronavirus.

“How long can we give a package? So we have to lift the lockdown,” he stressed, adding all industries that are being allowed to resume operations will have to follow standard operation procedures (SOPs) to avoid spread of the deadly virus.

The premier cautioned that if the people failed to follow SOPs and cases see a surge, the government will be compelled to again enforce the lockdown. “It is up to the people to follow the SOPs as police can’t enforce guidelines by force.”

“The time has come to act as a responsible citizen to fight the coronavirus,” he said, appealing to the masses to work with the government to ride out the choppy waters.

He said public transport will remain shut due to the provinces’ reservations. However, he added, he believes public transport should be opened because it is the common man’s means of transport and that the government wants to make the lives of people easier.

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About Pakistanis stranded abroad, the prime minister said over 100,000 Pakistanis are stuck in foreign countries. When they are brought back, they are shifted to a quarantine centre and tested for coronavirus, he spelled out.

He said the country doesn’t have the capacity to keep them all in quarantine so they will have to self isolate themselves.

The prime minister revealed the country saw a 35 per cent dip in its revenue collection due to the pandemic.

Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister’s focal person on COVID-19 Dr Faisal said the tally of coronavirus cases has gone up in the country, putting pressure on the health system of the country.

However, he added, the health system has the capacity to cope with the situation as it has not reached a saturated point.