ISLAMABAD, MAY 10 (DNA) – National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser is recovering from the coronavirus, his spokesperson said on Sunday.

He confirmed that Qaiser was admitted to a private hospital the day before but said it was so that he could receive better care. He should be discharged from the hospital  tomorrow (Monday), said the spokesperson.

He doesn’t have a fever anymore and has only a slight chest infection, said the spokesperson, adding that the speaker’s cough was better than before.

He feels much better, he added. Qaiser tested positive for the virus and went into home isolation on April 30.=DNA

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ISLAMABAD, MAY 10  –  The government is now identifying virus hotspots across the country with the help of data it has gathered and technology to ensure implementation of a smart lockdown, Planning Minister Asad Umar said.

When these areas where the virus has spread are identified, health teams will visit and monitor them to check if the entire area needs to be sealed or just specific lanes, he said in a briefing on Sunday.

The minister explained that this is done through a heat map of the country, which shows health officials which areas are most affected by the virus. “For example, presently, Karachi, Peshawar, Multan, Lahore and Quetta are some of the areas with the highest number of coronavirus patients,” he said.

So far, 177 areas in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 359 areas in Punjab have been sealed after they were declared “virus hotspots”.

Umar revealed that the government was preparing a web portal on which hospital across the country could log in and add their data. “It will include the number of coronavirus patients they have, the total number of beds and even ventilators,” he said, adding that through this, all COVID-19 data will be collected in one place.

He lauded the Punjab government for preparing an app that helps rescue services identify hospitals near them when they pick up a patient.

Umar emphasised that this will also help the government provide aid to people in these areas. “We have also collaborated with the National Rural Support Programme,” he said.

This mechanism is being developed because a countrywide lockdown is not possible as it will have drastic affects on daily wagers, he reiterated. “This, however, does not mean that all preventive measures will be lifted.”

The minister urged people to take responsibility for themselves as it was “more important now than ever” to prevent the virus from spreading.

Umar also lauded the efforts of all the doctors, paramedical staff and other frontline workers for their relentless work during the crisis.

Pakistan has reported its highest-ever one day increase of 2,000 cases in the virus on Sunday.

         ADNAN YOUSAF

ISLAMABAD:  Responding to media queries, the Spokesperson of Ministry of Foreign Affairs Aisha Faroouqi has said we have noted the statements made in an online lecture on 03 May 2020 by Mr. Harish Salve, India’s legal counsel in the Kulbushan Jadhav case. While suggesting that India may have to go back to International Court of Justice (ICJ), Mr. Salve has made certain statements which are contrary to the facts of the Case.

“We firmly reject the Indian Counsel’s baseless and inaccurate assertion that Pakistan has not complied with the ICJ’s judgment in the case. Pakistan has fully complied with the judgment and remains committed to continue doing so as the case proceeds further”.

She further said  Pakistan has granted India consular access to Commander Jadhav and is processing measures for effective review and reconsideration as per the guidelines provided by ICJ in its Judgment.

Being a responsible state, Pakistan abides by all its international obligations. It is regrettable that Mr. Salve has chosen to make statements which are inaccurate and misrepresent facts.

ISLAMABAD (DNA) -10 APRIL, 2020: As the world celebrates Mothers’ Day today, the Airwomen of Pakistan Air Force also pay tribute to the most loving creation of the world. In this regard, Directorate of Media Affairs,  Pakistan Air Force has produced a short promo to extol all  mothers who selflessly contribute towards the upbringing of future generations.

The promo, especially  highlights the self sacrificing services of the mothers belonging to the medical profession and is a sincere  acknowledgement of their frontline role in the fight against Covid-19 in the country. It is worth mentioning that women are also serving shoulder to shoulder with men in all branches of Pakistan Air Force.

Parliamentarians and civil society reps urge the government to adopt available mechanisms

Islamabad – Parliamentarians and civil society representatives while participating in a virtual conference urged the government to urgently develop an integrated mechanism engaging different stakeholders and active civil society organizations to reach out to variety of daily workers and freelancers. Daily bread-earners are not only poor and marginalized communities and laborers, but they include teachers and other semi-skilled and skilled persons too. They are suffering from the crisis but being neglected due to inefficient approach adopted by the federal and provincial governments. Easing lockdown at the moment when the infection is spiking up, the miseries would multiply.

Development Communications Network (Devcom-Pakistan) organized the virtual conference on Saturday on the topic ‘Covid-19: Reaching out to daily wagers and freelancers – Challenges and Strategies’. The distinguished panel included Senator Lt General (Retd) Abdul Qayyum, Senator Musadik Malik, Senator Sitara Ayaz and Zafarullah Khan, social scientist and former director general of the Pakistan Institute of Parliamentary Services (PIPS). Others who participated in the virtual conference included Dr Amena Hassan, TS Bhutta, Tahir Hanfi, Yousaf Ali, Shaaref Munir and Riffat Ara Baig. Host of the virtual conference and Devcom-Pakistan Director Munir Ahmed introduced the topic.

Senator Musadik Malik said: first two weeks of lockdown were very effective but afterwards government could not maintain it. It has proven to be fetal as we have seen spike in the curve of infected population. Total confusion and chaos was observed in handling the crisis, and the government despite having all the resources could not manage it as required. First two weeks of lockdown showed that government could have done it for four to six weeks to flatten the curve of coronavirus infections. Secondly, due to inefficient approach and having no adequate system, federal government could only reach out to fraction of poor communities while the daily wagers and freelancers remained untouched. While having its own funds, and grants from different international sources and philanthropists, federal government could have reached to all estimated 50-60 million people if the right mechanisms were adopted.

He said they would have taken three steps if they would have been in the government with the resources available to the present government; first of all strict and uncompromising lockdown from 6-8 weeks would have been the priority; secondly, random and cluster testing at all the UCs. The infected were quantified in adequate environment, and financial support would be extended to their families then and there. Secondly, reaching out to 50-60 million vulnerable poor communities, daily wagers and freelancers at their doorsteps with the support of district management, charity workers, members of the Union Councils (UCs) and local schools and teachers; and waving off the utility bills of poor upto middle class. Saving people had been our priority than worrying about the economy.

Senator Lt General (Retd) Abdul Qayyum was the view that neither federal government could impose strict lockdown nor successfully implemented its own SOPs except locking its horns with the provinces. Sindh has been on its own policy that was partially failure because of the federal government’s confusing statements. Now Punjab province has its way of handling the crisis and asking the federal government that seven largest cities of the province should be exempted from the easing policy. Lahore has already become the epicenter of the infection. Doctors are still crying for the personal protection equipment including masks. Situation is quite miserable and it would intensify in the days to come. The daily wagers and freelancers would become more vulnerable. The government has all the data and it should take relevant stakeholders on board to develop a rationale policy and inclusive implementation plan.

He mentioned instead of focusing on the crisis, the federal government is opening up old Pandora’s boxes for political scoring and vengeful agenda. We don’t see any harmonized policy across the country. Crisis would go out of our hands if the situation of chaos and confusion prevails.

Senator Sitra Ayaz said Awami National Party (ANP) said we don’t see any government plans to reaching out to daily wagers and professional freelancers except to open the markets to push them to the hell of crisis. Despite having resources and databases, the government is playing inefficient in reaching out even to poor. Some eyewash would not serve the objective. Undermining all the available systems, the federal government wanted to establish a Tiger Force that is not seen till today. The available religious, social and democratic systems were neglected in all the strategies to combat the Covid-19 menace. Union Councils and school systems were abandoned just to make the Centre take credit of the relief services but federal government was failed miserably. Still they should have the chance to reach out to the vulnerable citizens through the available mechanisms.

QUETTA, May 09 (dna ):About 58 new coronavirus patients were reported in Balochistan, taking the number of total confirmed patients to

1935 in the province on Saturday.

According to Media Coordinator Provincial Health Directorate Coronavirus Cell Dr. Muhammad Wasim Baig, at least 35493 people were screened for the virus till May 9, out of which 58 more were reported positive.

As many as 242 affected patients had recovered from the coronavirus so far while 24 deaths were recorded due to the deadly virus, he added.

ISLAMABAD, May 09 (DNA ):The COVID-19 caseload in Pakistan had reached 27,474 with 618 new cases reported during last 24 hours, an official of National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on coronavirus said on Saturday.

Sharing the data, he said that total 618 deaths had been reported from the disease with 24 reported during last 24 hours.

He said that 7,756 patients had been recovered. He added total 270,025 tests had been conducted while in last 24 hours 12,982 tests were conducted.

He said 9,691 cases were reported from Sindh, 10,471 from Punjab, 4,327 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 609 from Islamabad, 421 from Gilgit Baltistan, 1,876 from Balochistan and 79 from Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).

He said that in total confirmed cases, 7,576 active cases were reported from Sindh, 6,149 from Punjab, 3,073 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 533 from Islamabad, 120 from Gilgit Baltistan, 1,630 from Balochistan and 19 from Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).

He said that 175 deaths had been reported from Sindh, 191 from Punjab, 221 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, four from Islamabad, three from Gilgit Baltistan, 24 from Balochistan and no any death was reported from AJK.

He said that 1,940 patients had recovered in Sindh, 4,131 in Punjab, 1,033 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 72 in Islamabad, 298 Gilgit Baltistan, 222 in Balochistan and 60 in AJK.

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Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Zafar Mahmood Abbasi condemned targeted IED attack on vehicle of FC South in Balochistan in which an officer and 5 soldiers embraced shahadat. The Naval Chief prayed for elevated ranks of the martyrs and expressed his deep condolences with their bereaved families.