Coronavirus claims nearly 100 lives in 24 hours as cases surge
Dar, who heads the Corona Relief Tiger Force, says about a million volunteers have signed up in response to the government’s call to help the country’s most vulnerable people during pandemic
Pakistan reported 97 more coronavirus deaths on Saturday, the highest 24-hour increase to its fatalities, as authorities urged volunteers to motivate people to adhere to social distancing regulations to contain the spread of the virus.
According to Usman Dar, who heads the “Corona Relief Tiger Force,” about one million volunteers have signed up recently in response to the government’s call to help the country’s most vulnerable people during the coronavirus outbreak.
He told reporters that 165,348 volunteers are currently assisting authorities to contain the spread of the virus.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has said the volunteers will also be used to deliver food and medicine to needy and poor people if needed.
Pakistan also reported 4,734 new virus cases, raising its overall infections to 93,983.
With the latest 97 virus-related deaths, Pakistan’s overall fatalities have jumped to 1,935.
Meanwhile, taking notice of non-adherence to the standard operating procedures (SOPS) for prevention of spread of coronavirus, the Supreme Court has barred entry into the court premises of people wearing no face mask or bypassing temperature and symptoms checking and not passing through the disinfectant tunnel.
A notification issued by the Supreme Court, enforced immediately, ordered that face mask would be worn during the entire time any individual was within the court premises.
It said it has been noticed that the preventive measures for minimising spread of COVID-19 were not being fully observed by staff members of the Supreme Court, employees of other offices located in the court building and general public, visitors and litigants.
Therefore, the notification said, the competent authority had taken notice of this trend and ordered that wearing of face mask and getting checked for fever/temperature was mandatory for all persons on entering the premises of the apex court at the principal seat of Islamabad and branch registries at Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta.
Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed had also taken notice of violation of social distancing in the Supreme Court.
Heading a five-judge bench, the chief justice had asked during a case hearing why the courtroom was jam-packed. “What happened to the formula of social distancing? Who are you and why are you sitting here,” he asked while pointing at the lawyers, media persons and litigants/ people present in the courtroom.
“I don’t want something to happen in this court. You should care about social distancing and take precautionary measures,” the chief justice had said.
All judges are wearing face masks according the SOPS issued by the government as part of the precautionary measures against the COVID-19 pandemic.
An estimated 3 million people associated with industrial and services sectors of Pakistan are expected to lose their jobs, and the poverty level could rise to 33.5 per cent from the current 24.3 per cent due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the finance ministry said.
The services sector is likely to lose over two million jobs, whereas the industrial sector would lose one million jobs over economic difficulties triggered by the pandemic, the ministry told the Senate, the upper house of the country’s parliament, on Friday.
Prior to the pandemic, the GDP growth was expected to be 3.24 per cent, which has now reduced to -0.4 per cent during the ongoing fiscal year, Xinhua news agency quoted the ministry as saying.
It adding that the fiscal deficit is also expected to rise from the initial target of 7.5 per cent to 9.4 per cent of the GDP.
The ministry further said that amid the pandemic, the country’s exports were expected to reduce to $21-$22 billion due to a slump in global economic activity and low commodity prices.
Before the pandemic, exports amounted to $25.5 billion.
Moreover, remittances are also expected to decline from the targeted $23 billion to $20-$21 billion.
Earlier in March, the Pakistani government announced a financial relief package worth Rs1,200 billion ($73 billion) to mitigate the negative impact of the coronavirus on the national economy and vulnerable sections of society.