Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar expressed his concern that 18 million people could lose their jobs and one million small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) could be shut down forever due to closure of businesses during ongoing lockdown owing to Covid-19.
"We have seen revenues decrease by Rs119 billion in just one month and a massive decline in employment. Revenue collected by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has fallen to 37 per cent in April from March. If the lockdown is prolonged, it will increase the number of people living below the poverty line, will lead to greater layoffs, and to permanent closure of small businesses," the minister expressed these views, while addressing a news conference at the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Sunday.
Talking about the impact of coronavirus on levels of poverty and hunger, the minister said that the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (Pide) research showed that between 20 million to 70 million people could fall below the poverty line. He added that a recent Gallup survey found that one in four Pakistanis saw a reduction in their diet because of the virus.
Umar said that a research by a renowned university revealed that, "the cost imposed by economic and social distancing may be large in terms of immediate deprivation and hunger." Quoting another Gallup survey, he said that citizens in Pakistan, more than in any other country, said that their livelihoods were affected by the virus.
He said that all the decisions regarding relaxation in lockdown after 9th April would be taken with the consensus of all the provinces. He said the National Coordination Committee on Coronavirus would take the decision about the future course of action.
The minister said that the coronavirus had not been as fatal in Pakistan as compared to other countries, especially in the West.
He said, "the coronavirus has caused 58 per cent more deaths in the United States, 207 per cent more in Spain, and 124 per cent more in the United Kingdom as compared to Pakistan in the same period."
Coming to Pakistan's situation, he said that the country was reporting 24 deaths daily on average for the past few weeks and if this was extended to a month, it amounted to nearly 720 deaths per month. "Comparatively, some 4,000 people die in traffic accidents across the country each month. But we still allow traffic because it's necessary. If we focus on bringing deaths due to coronavirus to zero, we have to realise that we cannot bear the measures it would take to do that," he said.
However, the minister said that the government could not "open everything and ease the lockdown completely" to prevent the health system from being overburdened.
He said that the two most important factors to consider here are the number of beds in intensive care units (ICUs) and the number of ventilators. He said that there were nearly 5,000 beds in the ICUs across the country, of which 1,500 were dedicated for virus patients. He added that the country also had 5,000 ventilators and the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) was trying to import more.
"We will discuss with the prime minister within 2-3 days and then take a decision in the National Coordination Committee meeting about restrictions after May 9."
Umar said that the country was producing personal protective equipment (PPE) locally.
"We have also received some great, workable designs for ventilators,"
"We have 55 laboratories that can conduct virus tests. If they work in single shifts, we can conduct some 14,700 tests every day, which is close to our target of 20,000. If we do double shifts, we can also double the number of tests that can be conducted daily," he said.
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