PM again rules out lockdown, promises package

Prime Minister Imran Khan has stated that the government will announce a comprehensive package on Tuesday for businesses as well as industry to offset the impact of coronavirus pandemic on the economy, but ruled out complete nationwide lockdown for now, terming it very difficult to enforce.
While interacting with anchorpersons on Friday at the Prime Minister's Office, the prime minister said that priority of the world in the face of coronavirus pandemic was to cushion their own people with the US unveiling a package of one trillion dollar.
The government will also unveil a package to cushion the people of Pakistan on Tuesday, he announced. The prime minister said the government would also give incentives to the construction industry for creating employment opportunities for the people. Khan said the government did not want a complete lockdown because such a situation could lead to starvation for the families of daily wagers.
The premier also feared that there was a great danger of rapid spike in coronavirus cases, if precautionary measures were not voluntarily followed.
There are two dangers in Pakistan for this outbreak, the first one that if it spikes rapidly, there would be a serious problem for the country as has been the case in Italy and Spain.
He said that there would be immense challenge for the government to deal with the situation in case of rapid spike in positive cases; therefore, "social distancing" was very necessary to avert the danger of rapid spike.
So far, the prime minister said, the situation had been under control.
"If we discipline ourselves for one and a half months and follow self-quarantine the chances of spread would be very low," he said.
The prime minister said the second danger would be from panic, as if panic spread it would be far more dangerous for the country than the coronavirus. "Panic buying is a major concern for me as has been witnessed in Europe because daily wagers would be affected most from such a situation," he said, adding that the government would try to take the safety net to the lowest level.
The prime Minister said the role of media had become very important and urged it to show utmost responsibility.
He said every single person would have to fight and defeat coronavirus collectively.
He said that no government could win against the pandemic alone.
The prime minister said that doctors and health workers were the frontline force in the fight against the coronavirus.
He said the government would provide them everything required.
The prime minister said that there were two strategies to deal with the coronavirus, one being pursued by the Sindh government of a [kind of] "lockdown" and other by the federal government, which considers that a [total] lockdown would lead to starvation of daily wagers.
He said a lockdown would also affect the health workers so there was a need to strike a balance [between the two approaches], and avoid public gathering.
The prime minister said the government had been monitoring the situation since January 15 after the outbreak of the pandemic in China, and stated that not a single case has come to Pakistan from China.
He said that cases began with the return of pilgrims from Iran, after the increase in number of positive cases eroded the capability of Iran to deal with the problem, which resulted in Pakistan having to accept them back in.
The prime minister also urged the international community to lift sanctions from Iran as the country was struggling to deal with coronavirus outbreak.
Replying to a question, prime minister said that enforcing total lockdown was very difficult and all the agencies were following the situation, and if need arise option of lockdown may be considered.
However, he hoped that the situation would remain under control.
The prime minister said that this is in the government interest that accurate figures should be shared with the public and stated.
Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance Dr Hafeez Shaikh said that a National Coordination Committee (NCC) meeting decided to deal with the problem at national level. Shaikh said that there was a need to devise a joint strategy to deal with the problem.
He said that there were three components of the strategy to deal with the problem - by ensuring provision of necessary medical equipment, to provide relief to the affected, industries, airlines transport, SMEs and tourism.
He said there would be relief in taxes and subsidies would be provided to ensure that the economy remains functional.
There would be things to determine whose taxes would be reduced and there would be increase in the subsidies, he said, adding that Rs 280 billion would go to the farm sector through procurement of wheat.
He said the government wanted to increase the spending of public-sector development programme for job creation and Ehsaas disbursement would be expedited to provide relief to people.
Shaikh said that there was growth in exports.
The adviser to the prime minister said that "we are not in a situation that is very bad for the economy and we have reached an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that all the expenses on coronavirus would not be part of the budget deficit, and are also discussing with the IMF the incentive package for the economy.
Sheikh said that if Pakistan needed additional support the government can request the IMF.
Other international financial institutions have also agreed to provide support to Pakistan, he added.
The adviser said that a $350 billion loss has been incurred across the world due to coronavirus pandemic.
The media was told that medical facilities were made available at nine hospitals to deal with coronavirus cases with a total of 1,600 bed capacity in Punjab, Sindh Quetta, Gwadar, KP, and Gilgit-Baltistan.