Zafar Mirza urges change in social behaviors to defeat coronavirus

ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Dr Zafar Mirza said on Saturday that people have to change their ways of lifestyle to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, ARY News reported.

Addressing media in Islamabad, he said that the protection of the lives of health professionals was a top priority of the incumbent government. He said that the government was providing personal protective equipment (PPE) to more than 450 hospitals weekly.

“One of the problems we are facing is hospitals are not assessing and distributing the PPEs to hospitals given to them by the government,” he added.

Zafar Mirza further said that the rate of healthcare professionals being affected by Covid-19 in Pakistan is lower than in Europe. The PM Imran Khan aide said that the government’s WeCare initiative is starting a mental health programme for doctors, paramedics working on the front lines.

“We need to give moral, psychological, psycho-social support to our doctors,” he said and added that the programme will start from PIMS doctors in Islamabad.

He said the government is adhering to a policy of tracing, testing, quarantine and selected lockdowns to overcome the COVID-19 outbreak.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Pakistan has surged to 93,983 with 4,734 new infections reported within last 24 hours.

According to the latest data released by the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), 34,889 cases have been detected in Sindh, 35,308 in Punjab, 12,459 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 5,776 in Balochistan, 4,323 in Islamabad, 331 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and 897 in Gilgit Baltistan,

So far 32,581 patients have recovered their health, while the death toll now stands at 1,935 with 97 deaths in last 24 hour