Asad fears coronavirus cases can surge up to 1.2 million by next month, if SOP's violations continue

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar on Sunday expressed fear that coronavirus cases could be surged till 1.2 million by end of July if strict action would not be taken against violators of the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), issued by the government to prevent spread of COVID-19.

“By middle of June, we have around 150,000 cases, if such situation prevails and no change is made then according to the experts, the number could be increased by two folds to 300,000 by end of current month and could also be surged up to around one million to 1.2 million by end of next month,” Asad Umar said in a media briefing after chairing meeting of National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) on COVID-19 here.

“This is of course a matter of worry but the good thing is that we have the capability to avoid such situation by taking administrative actions.”

He said the administrative measures were already being taken against the violators of SOPs, however, he informed that the NCOC had decided to take stricter administrative actions against such people to avoid spread of the pandemic.

He said the government does not want to hurt people but it was the constitutional as well as moral responsibility of the government to prevent them from the disease. Simultaneously, the minister informed that the capacity of health system was also being improved.

In this regard, he said the NCOC had also decided to increase the testing capacity of COVID-19 from current 40,000-50,000 daily to around 150,000 tests within four to six weeks, which means that we would be testing around 100,000 people on daily basis by mid-July.

About availability of beds with oxygen for coronavirus patients, Umar informed that at present around 2000 patients were on oxygen beds across the country while keeping in view the growing numbers of patients, the federal government would provide 1000 more beds by end of current month and 1000 beds by end of next month.

“We will provide 500 beds each to Sindh and Punjab provinces, 450 to Islamabad, 400 beds to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 200 beds to Balochistan, 60 to Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and 40 beds to Gilgit Baltistan.

Asad Umar said according to the experts, wearing masks was the most effective way to control the pandemic as it could even help decreasing the spread rate by 50 percent. He said social distancing was the second most important requirement the people should follow.

It has been repeatedly advised that the people should avoid going out of home unnecessarily, however if going out is unavoidable, observe social distancing whether you are in market, at office or anywhere else, he added.

He warned that in order to save maximum people from the disease, actions would be taken more strict against those who did not follow SOPs, some particular shops and even markets would be locked in such cases.

He said in Islamabad, the government has taken actions and some areas were sealed, similar actions would also be taken in Lahore and other cities of Punjab.

Umar said according to the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan, the government was also concerned about the economic situation of common man.

Pakistan managed to do something for the poor due to timely actions by the Prime Minister, however, in other countries like India, the situation is worst, he said adding India imposed strict lockdown with short notice which resulted in worst situation as people were dying of hunger and despite such strict lock down the pandemic was spread like wildfire.