Staff Reporter
Lahore
Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday refuted claims that the government plans to impose a complete lockdown in Punjab — the province with the most fatalities from coronavirus — saying that a “smart lockdown” would be enforced instead.
PM Imran was addressing media in Lahore, after chairing a meeting regarding the coronavirus measures taken in the province.
Imran Khan ruled out a sweeping lockdown once again on a visit to Lahore during which he held meetings with Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar, Governor Muhammad Sarwar and other officials to evaluate the virus situation in the province.
The premier’s visit to Lahore comes a day after the Punjab government had sent recommendations to the federal government to tighten lockdown measures in the province, in particular Lahore, in a bid to curb the growing number of Covid-19 cases.
But after holding meetings with the provincial government’s top brass, PM Imran said a strategy of “smart lockdowns” will be implemented instead whereby strict adherence to standard operation procedures will be ensured to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Addressing a press conference in Lahore alongside CM Buzdar, Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid and his advisers, the PM said:
“After analysing with my Punjab team today, [we’ve decided that] we will not impose a lockdown but will impose selective lockdowns — trace and seal hotspots,” he said, adding that the country’s administration and police were not in a position to take “such a huge burden of a complete lockdown”.
He reiterated that in South Asian countries, the burden of a lockdown would fall on the poor people “who rely on daily wages”. “For countries like us, the only option is a smart lockdown so that the burden doesn’t fall on poor people.”
Noting that the public had made light of government mandated SOPs so far, the premier warned that from now on there will be “consequences” if Covid-19 SOPs weren’t followed.
“It’s important to understand the consequences of not following the SOPs. If, for example, people in a factory do not follow the SOPs, we will shut down that factory. And then the poor will lose their income,” he said.
“We were leaving it on you [the public] until today but unfortunately I did not see people taking it seriously. People think it is like the flu,” PM Imran said, adding that the government had now come up with a system to crackdown on violations and apprehend those behind them.
Elaborating on the system, Dr Faisal Sultan, the prime minister’s focal person on coronavirus, said the government had prepared a “modern and sophisticated” software to help it identify coronavirus hotspots around the country.
“This will allow the administration to implement and enforce stricter restrictions, or in other words, a smart lockdown,” he said.
