Coronavirus testing capacity increased to 6000: CM

• The Chief Minister said that 'Smart Sampling' was being started from the six districts of the province initially including Lahore, Rawalpindi, Multan, Gujranwala, Gujrat and Faisalabad.

LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar has said that coronavirus testing capacity had been increased to conduct 6000 tests daily by establishing eight BSL-III laboratories in the province.

Addressing a press conference at CM office, the Chief Minister said that 'Smart Sampling' was being started from the six districts of the province initially including Lahore, Rawalpindi, Multan, Gujranwala, Gujrat and Faisalabad.

Under the 'Smart Sampling', coronavirus tests will be conducted of the workers of media houses, officials of law enforcement agencies, offices of administrative officers, health workers, TB and HIV patients, pregnant women in the hospitals and the prisoners of jails. He said that sampling at a larger scale will help the government to review the spread of coronavirus in the community.

In the Phase-II, under the random sampling, samples would be collected in census block.There was no shortage of coronavirus testing kits, PPEs and beds in Punjab, he added.

He said the government was fully aware about the problems of labourers, therefore, the federal government was being recommended to open up the industries and business.

He said that Punjab government was presenting its recommendations to the federal government for relaxing the lock down, however, it would be decided in the meeting of the National Coordination Committee.

Usman Buzdar said that suggestion had been given to the federal government that construction-related industries including building and road sectors should be allowed to work.

Similarly, the recommendation had been presented for opening the feeding industry related to the export sector.

The request had been made to open power looms and all such factories, which had their own labour colonies inside their premises. It had also been recommended to open the iron and steel industry as well as the home appliances industry.

CM said that the recommendations had been submitted to the federal government for opening the markets in different days by dividing them into zones throughout the province. This decision would be taken with the consultation of district administration, traders’ unions, chamber of commerce and industry and other stakeholders.

Usman Buzdar said that thousands of Pakistanis were coming back from abroad through different flights and they had been properly looked after in the hotels and other quarantine centres according to the SOPs. He said that people from other provinces coming from abroad will be sent to their respective provinces from the airports after informing their provincial governments.

He said that people from Punjab will be sent to their respective districts and will be allowed to go to their homes within 48 hours, if their coronavirus test will be negative. He said that inquiry was being conducted on the complaint of Pakistanis came from abroad and was kept in quarantine. He said that the Punjab government has formulated SOPs in this regard.

He said that quarantine will be allowed at homes as well, after implementing on these SOPs and recommendation had been presented to the federal government in this regard.

To a question, the Chief Minister replied that instructions of holding an inquiry regarding alleged mismanagement in the Expo Centre Coronavirus Hospital had been given.The government was standing with the coronavirus patients and no one will be allowed to misbehave with them.

CM said that so far there were 6850 confirmed coronavirus patients in Punjab, whereas 115 people had lost their lives due to this pandemic. He further said that approximately 90000 coronavirus tests had been conducted, so far. He said that it was a matter of satisfaction that 2206 people had recovered and gone back to their homes. He said that 90 percent of people from devotees and Tableeghi jamat who were kept in quarantine had also gone back to their homes after complete recovery.

The Chief Minister said that under the 'Ehaas Kafalat Programme', Rs.34 billion had so far been distributed among 2.8 million families and the process of assistance was still continue. He said that under the 'Insaaf Imad' package, financial assistance of Rs12000 per family will be distributed among 2.5 million families from next week.

Moreover, under the Ramzan package financial assistance of Rs 3000 per family will be given away to the families. He said that this lockdown had badly affected poor, labourers and daily wager segment of the society across the province and the government was fully aware of their difficulties. He said that there was a smart lockdown in Punjab and the government wanted to alleviate the hardships of poor , therefore, instructions had been given to crackdown against profiteers and hoarders in the province.

Provincial Ministers Raja Basharat, Dr Yasmin Rashid, Mian Aslam Iqbal, Hashim Jawan Bakht, Fayyaz ul Hassan Chohan, Chief Secretary, IGP and concerned authorities were present on the occasion.