Zafar says it will be 'premature' to declare all deaths due to Covid-19

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on National Health and Regulations Dr Zafar Mirza has said it will be "premature" to declare that all deaths occurring in the country are due to the Covid-19.

Addressing a press conference here on Friday, Mirza said that the country was gradually increasing the coronavirus testing capacity and the primary method of ascertaining whether a person died due to the Covid-19 was a laboratory test.

"If tests haven't been done, you cannot say whether a person has died from Covid-19," he said, adding that without testing, any conclusions would be "mere speculation".

The SAPM added that the government would issue an advisory in the coming days for doctors working in emergencies about how they should receive dead on arrival or critically ill cases.

"The advisory will contain instructions on how and when to carry out tests of such people if doctors clinically suspect, they are Covid-19 positive," Mirza said.

He said during the Ramzan the government and the people would have to adopt special measures to avert, adding that the government would issue a national level guideline for Ramzan within coming days in collaboration with all the stakeholders.

Over the past 24 hours, 6,264 tests were conducted across the country, out of which 497 were declared positive, he said, adding Pakistan's Covid-19 count had reached 7,025 with 1,765 people recovered from the contagion so far.

He said that at present 60 per cent of the total cases in the country were locally transmitted. Dr Mirza said Pakistan's Covid-19 death rate was 1.9 percent as compared to 6.7 recorded the world over.

He said 11 people died from the pandemic in the country over the past 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 135. He added that 44 patients remained in critical condition in various hospitals.

Referring to media reports claiming the number of deaths in Sindh was much higher than being reported, Mirza said that the Sindh health minister had started a process of contact tracing after some recent unexplained deaths, which he termed "a welcome move".

He revealed that Pakistan now had nearly one million testing kits and more than 20,000 tests would be carried out daily by the end of April. Mirza said those tests would help authorities identify the people who had the coronavirus whether they exhibited symptoms or not.

Appreciating the nation's resilience during this time, the SAPM said that the country always united in the face of a calamity. "We are getting contributions in the form of money, equipment and medicines not only from people in the country but Pakistanis living abroad as well."

Some 30,000 Pakistani doctors are serving in foreign countries, Mirza revealed, adding that many of them had expressed a desire to help during the pandemic. He said the government was launching a technology-based platform called "Yaaran-e-Watan" for all such overseas Pakistani doctors and nurses who wanted to help treat coronavirus patients in the country.