ISLAMABAD – Prime Minister Imran Khan Friday said the government wasworking on an economic package, including special incentives for theconstruction sector, to be announced on March 24, to protect the people,industry and the country’s economy from the negative effects of novelcoronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The package being prepared by the Ministry of Finance, in consultation andcoordination with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and the Federal Board ofRevenue (FBR), was aimed at protecting small industries and the people fromlower strata of the society, he said while talking to senior media-personshere.
Advisor to the PM on Finance Dr Hafeez Sheikh, Special Assistant to the PMon Health Dr Zafar Mirza and National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA)Chairman Lt Gen Muhammad Afzal were also present on the occasion.
The prime minister, in his remarks aired live by television channels, spokeabout the measures taken by the government after the outbreak of COVID-19in the Chinese city of Wuhan, especially after January 15.
He said since the country, with 25% of its people suffering from absolutepoverty and the overall poverty at around 40%, could not afford lockdown ofcities, the construction sector would be offered special incentives to keepthe wheels of economy running and providing jobs to the labourers and dailywagers.
The prime minister, however, in response to a question said if required thegovernment would enforce complete lockdown but would go step by step byinitially closing down specific places with enhanced number of patients.He said government had decided to continuously keep the nation updatedabout the situation of coronavirus. Accurate information about the deadlyvirus would be shared with people.
“If any information or news about the coronavirus is concealed, it will beinjustice with the country and the people,” he maintained.
The prime minister also categorically clarified that contrary to theimpression of mishandling of the situation at Taftan border, there was nolapse on the part of Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Jam Kamal Khan and saidit was not time of blame-game.
He said the government was in close contact with China after the outbreakof COVID-19 in Wuhan, monitoring the situation and started contacts withIran after the Pakistani pilgrims started crossing the Taftan border.
Imran Khan praised the Chinese government for taking care of Pakistanistudents in Wuhan and treating them as their own people.
He also urged the international community to lift economic sanctions fromIran to enable the country – severely hit by the coronavirus – to fight thedeadly virus effectively.
The prime minister expressed the fear that if Pakistan faced the spike ofcoronavirus it would create a serious situation due to its healthcarecapacity and hospital facilities.
He urged the nation to adopt preventive measures like social-distancing andself-quarantine to save themselves from the deadly virus.
The prime minister said as the deadly virus could cause panic in thesociety, the people from the media, including journalists, opinion-makers,anchors and owners of media houses, had an important role in disseminationof accurate information and avoiding from sensationalism.
The government, he said, would give guidelines to the Pakistan ElectronicMedia Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) and other media bodies in that respect.“If the people started panic-buying, there will be shortage of commodities,especially food items, and the prices will shoot up,” he remarked.
The prime minister referred to the media reports about the supermarkets inthe United States and other Western countries emptied by the people inpanic as well as queues for purchasing weapons.
“Nobody can tell how long this situation of coronavirus will continue?” hesaid and urged the people to fight this war against the deadly disease as anation.To a question, the prime minister said the dissemination of accurate dateon coronavirus was in the interest of the country and the nation.
He said he was against the lockdown of cities because of the fact thatvenders, daily-wagers and labourers in Pakistan could not survive withoutearnings. “Our effort, through the economic package, is to bring the lowerstrata of society into the social network,” he maintained.
To another question, Imran Khan said the government was working on theestablishment of quarantine facilities in Pakistan for 150,000 expatriates,who were currently trapped in the countries facing the spike ofcoronavirus, and wanted to come back to their motherland.
After the establishment of quarantine facilities by the NDMA within thenext two weeks, the government would allow the overseas Pakistanis totravel back to the homeland, he added.
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NDMA Chairman Lt Gen Muhammad Afzal told the media that the government hadcreated 1600 beds capacity in nine hospitals with three in Punjab, two inSindh, one each in Quetta and Gwadar, two in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, oneeach in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and two small hospitals in Gilgit Baltistan.
Moreover, one ward in all the major hospitals had been specified as anisolation facility, he added.
He said currently 12 million masks were available in Islamabad, Lahore andKarachi, and another 12 million had been booked with different vendors inPakistan. Around 100,000 masks were available in Peshawar and 50,000 inBalochistan.
He said the distribution of around 12,500 suits would start by Saturday forthe health workers. Some 2,000 thermal guns had been placed at the entrypoints of different government departments, while another 30,000 would beimported from China soon.
The NDMA chief said they had around 15,000 N-95 masks available in thestock and would receive another 50,000 by Friday night. The Chinesebusiness giant Alibaba had also donated 50,000 masks to Pakistan.
He told the media that around 1700 ventilators were available across thecountry, with 600 in private hospitals of Sindh, KP and Punjab.
He said the ventilators were not available in the international market,however, with the Chinese help, Pakistan had been able to book around 800ventilators. The government was in contact with the company to increase thenumber to 6,000.
He said the NDMA was trying to get 1200-1500 ventilators without any delayand hopefully would get 25 ventilators by Saturday.
He said 200,000 N-95 masks had been ordered mainly for the hospitalworkers. The number of mobile X-rays would also be doubled, he added.
He said three accommodations had been established at all the three entrypoints at the western border having total capacity of 1,200 single beds andwashrooms with the provision of 1,000 more beds.
Advisor on Finance Abdul Hafeez Sheikh said the world economy had facedloss of around Rs 350 billion owing to the coronavirus outbreak and thegovernment was devising a strategy to reduce its impact on the nationaleconomy.
As the foremost measure, he said, the government would tackle the medicalemergency through appropriate response followed by the relief to theaffected groups and people like airlines, retail and SMEs (small mediumenterprises).
Moreover, a stimulus package would be announced to reduce taxes and enhancesubsidies to accelerate the jobs creation.
He said after consultation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), ithad been agreed that the expenses to be incurred due to the coronavirusoutbreak would not be counted in the country’s deficit.
The IMF had also allowed an incentives package to support the industry,which had not been planned earlier, he added.
Special Assistant to PM on Health Dr. Zafar Mirza said it had been decidedin the National Coordination Committee (NCC) that the Federal Government incoordination with the provincial governments would update the situation ofcoronavirus on daily basis.
The verified data or numbers of the people affected by the coronavirusacross the country would be released at the national level, he added.
