Staff Reporter
Islamabad
Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar on Friday warned that the number of coronavirus cases in the country will continue to rise.
He, however, assured the nation that “data and modelling have not shown any evidence that the disease will spread so rapidly that the healthcare system will collapse”.
Speaking during the ongoing special National Assembly session on Covid-19, Umar said that if a lockdown could have ended the virus, it would have been proven by at least one country. He pointed out that in countries which imposed strict lockdowns to curb the spread, the disease reemerged after restrictions were eased.“This is not dengue which will go away if we kill the mosquitoes,” he said, adding that the disease will only end once a vaccine is developed. He said that Prime Minister Imran Khan had foreseen the impact of a lockdown in the country on poor people two months ago while many countries were coming to the same realisation now. “You have seen Russia, India and other countries that are reaching the peak of the virus [but] they are easing lockdowns because of the economic implications.”
He said that the country had pandemic experts, artificial intelligence specialists and data scientists on board and the government made decisions after consulting them.
While talking about the government’s tracing, testing and quarantine strategy, Umar said that the government had identified more than 500 areas in the country as virus hotspots and action had been taken to put them under quarantine. “We have seen a lot of benefit from it,” he added.
