Country has capacity to conduct 0.1 million COVID-19 tests: Umar

Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar Saturday said that Rs13 billion have been distributed among 1.1 million people under the Ehsaas Emergency Cash Programme within past few days.

Briefing media along with Special Assistant on Health Dr Zafar Mirza here, Umar said Ehsaas Emergency Cash Programme was unprecedented in the history of Pakistan under which Rs144 billion would be distributed among 12 million people of the country.

He said that Pakistan now had the capacity to conduct at least 100,000 COVID-19 tests in 26 laboratories situated across the country, adding that the government might begin testing asymptomatic individuals moving forward.

"We've only been testing visibly symptomatic patients thus far. It is possible that we will start testing asymptomatic people going forward provided they came in contact with those who have already tested positive," Umar maintained.

The minister said 1.7 million surgical masks had been distributed by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) as yet, and the figure also included 75,000 N-95 masks. He said 73,000 protective clothes had also been provided to frontline health staff.

Umar said 137,000 surgical caps had also been distributed among the staff. He said 14 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) machines had been brought into the country. Umar said more than 26 laboratories had become operational to hold tests across the country.

He said, "We have received testing kits for holding 100,000 tests. Of these, 50,000 will be sent to Sindh."

Umar said with improved capacity, tests on daily basis had increased to 2,500 to 3,000. He said a full-fledged team had been constituted at the National Command and Operation Centre, which would work in close coordination with the provinces.

He further revealed that the government had procured and distributed 14 new PCR test machines among the provinces. The minister said tracking was also being increased to stop the spread of the coronavirus adding that there had been reduction in economic activities due to the lockdown, and one-third decline had been witnessed in collection of taxes.

Umar said next steps would be taken after 14th of April, while assessing the situation. He said meeting of the National Coordination Committee (NCC) chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan would be held on Monday next, in which effort would be made to make a unanimous decision on next steps.

Speaking on the occasion, Special Assistant on Health Zafar Mirza dispelled the wrong impression in certain quarters regarding the low death rate in Pakistan by the killer virus. He warned, "If we let our guard down, the number of deaths can increase significantly."

Giving the breakup of coronavirus cases, Mirza said the number of confirmed patients in the world was over 1.7 million with 100,000 deaths so far. He said 48,584 tests had been conducted in Pakistan as yet with 4,788 confirmed corona patients. Mirza said 190 patients had increased during the last 24 hours.

He said 752 people had recovered with an increase of 32 in the last 24 hours. Mirza said 1,411 patients were admitted in various hospitals of the country with 50 in critical condition and put on ventilators.

He said 72 people had succumbed to coronavirus, with five deaths in the last 24 hours alone. Mirza advised people to strictly follow social distancing and other precautionary measures to stem the increase in coronavirus cases.