'National dashboard established for monitoring of COVID-19 cases'

ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Dr Zafar Mirza has announced that the federal government has established a National Dashboard for centralised monitoring of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases across Pakistan, ARY News reported on Thursday.

Dr Zafar Mirza was addressing a press conference of National Command and Control Centre along with SAPM on Information Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan and Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (DG-ISPR) Major General Babar Iftikhar in Islamabad today.

The special assistant said the nation is seen uniting to combat coronavirus that affected 176 states around the world and the number of COVID-19 patients surpasses 220,000.

“The confirmed cases of coronavirus are 326 in Pakistan and two deaths caused by the disease. The deceased persons belong to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province. I recommend [media houses] to confirm first before reporting the loss of life [from coronavirus]. The latest tally comes to the federal authorities from provinces.”

Read: Pakistan’s coronavirus tally climbs to 377 as new cases emerge in provinces

“This figure will definitely variate in coming days and people will get recovered from the virus. A National Dashboard has been established which will assist monitoring of the situation across the country.”

He said that China has successfully stopped the spread of the virus and the Pakistani authorities will initiate video conferences with Chinese experts to get the benefit from their experiences to contain COVID-19.

“Approximately 100,000 patients have recovered health around the world. The federal and provincial government are making joint efforts to defeat the pandemic. PM Imran Khan had stressed the need for social distancing in his speech to the nation. We should avoid shaking hands with the people these days. We are trying to reduce arrivals in hospitals as well and going to release orders for allowing only one attendant with a patient admitted to the hospital.”

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“I am appealing the people to avoid heading towards hospitals if they are suffering from minor diseases. The government is providing all the necessary medical equipment to the hospital staff.”

Dr Mirza said the Centre and provincial governments are performing their duties with full coordination. The federal government will get volunteer services of people belonging to the health sector. He added that private institutions and hospitals have also offered support to the government to fight coronavirus.

Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan said that the provincial governments are vigilantly and diligently working to curb further spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) with the collaboration of the Centre.

Read: Novel Coronavirus: Sindh to distribute two million ration bags

She said, “PM Imran Khan is fully aware of the current situation and monitoring the developments across the country by himself. ”

It is pertinent to mention here that provincial sources have reported the tally of coronavirus cases up to 377 till Thursday evening across the country with the highest count, 211, reported in Sindh.

A patient has been cured of the coronavirus after being kept in isolated quarantine along with being given the necessary medical treatment in Karachi, a total of three people have thus far been cured of the deadly disease.