Coronavirus: No case reported in country: SAPM

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Zafar Mirza on Saturday said that so far no case has been reported in the country about infection due to coronavirus. SAPM Mirza during a press conference said that all ministries and divisions are on board to tackle coronavirus patients when and where found in the country.

Kits for diagnosis and treatment of coronavirus will be received by the evening while an effective awareness campaign is also on the cards to sensitize people about the disease, he added. While making it clear that no patient has claimed for being infected with the virus within Pakistan, he said that around four Pakistanis were diagnosed in China with the disease and their health is improving with each passing day.

The government of Pakistan and the embassy in China are in constant contact with the affected students and their families for provision of every best medical treatment to them.

Pakistan stands with the stance of the Chinese government which is pursuing recommendations of the World Health Organization to overcome the spread of the disease, he maintained.

Zafar said quarantine has been initiated in China for Pakistani travellers to make them disease free as well as to prevent its spread. Health Declaration Card would be distributed amongst all the passengers in view of Novel Coronavirus outbreak and passengers are advised to fill the forms and hand over the same to health staff in the international arrival lounges.

The form contains demographic information of every passenger, travel history and health status, like issues of fever, cough and shortness of breath. It is the top priority of the government to keep people of the country safe from the deadly virus and the government would spare no effort in that regard, he said.

Giving recent update on the spread of virus, he said at least 249 people died in China and 11,947 are affected across the globe.

MONITORING DESK adds: Despite strong criticism from the opposition, the government has decided to stay firm on its earlier decision against the repatriation of Pakistanis stuck in virus-hit China, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr Zafar Mirza said on Saturday.

He said that the decision was finalised after a meeting between Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, where the latter assured that taking care of Pakistani citizens was a priority for China's government.

On Thursday, SAPM Dr Mirza had announced that the government had decided not to evacuate Pakistanis from China, saying that such a step would be "against the larger interest" of the country.

"We believe that right now, it is in the interest of our loved ones in China [to stay there]. It is in the larger interest of the region, world, country that we don't evacuate them now," he had told reporters at a press conference in Islamabad.

"Right now the government of China has contained this epidemic in Wuhan city. If we act irresponsibly and start evacuating people from there, this epidemic will spread all over the world like wildfire."

Dr Mirza declared that the decision of non-repatriation of Pakistani citizens from China was final, saying that the government had "complete trust" in Beijing's policies to combat the epidemic.

"I want to reiterate our trust [in China's policies]," he told reporters, adding that the government stood by Beijing. "We care about our children more than anyone else, but we need to realise our responsibilities and take the right step. We don't want to copy others [...] For us, it is more important to take steps that ensure that maximum number of people are saved."

He assured once again that Islamabad was striving to ensure that the Pakistani citizens in China were being taken care of and had access to all facilities.

Giving an update on the status of the Pakistani students who had caught the coronavirus, Dr Mirza said that they had recovered as the disease was diagnosed at an early stage.

The SAPM said that those Pakistani citizens, who are stranded in China, will not be allowed to return until they have been quarantined for 14 days and are found to be free of the disease.

Dr Mirza said that a comprehensive plan had been devised to ensure that when flights from China to Pakistan are resumed, passengers are screened properly so that cases of the virus do not emerge in Pakistan. "We are confident that if we are successful in implementing this plan - and there is no reason to believe that we won't [be able to implement it] - we will be able to keep Pakistanis safe from this virus." He added that an awareness campaign will be initiated on electronic media to inform people about the origin, symptoms and ways of transfer of the coronavirus.