Lockdown to be eased; virus cases rise

The government has decided to soften the lockdown further from Saturday in the second phase.

However, closure of educational institutes has been extended by one and half months till July 15, and all board exams have been cancelled.

Briefing on coronavirus after the National Coordination Committee meeting (NCC), Prime Minister Imran Khan stated that "we have decided to take a step - despite that curve of virus is ascending but not at an alarming pace - to ease the lockdown in the next phase due to difficulty of people and fear that some small industries may not be able to survive due to lockdown."

The prime minister stated that lockdown started from March 13 when there were only 26 cases and since then all the places of gatherings were closed down including factories and businesses to prevent the spread of the virus in the country by ensuring social distancing.

He said that his fear from day one was that Pakistan's situation with over 70 percent informal economy has been totally different from Europe's, and daily wagers would be badly affected as a result of the lockdown.

The government kept thinking about the right time to open the lockdown and after detailed discussions with the provinces it decided to further ease the operations of some sectors.

The prime minister added that the government could not provide support to the people against such a massive impact of lockdown as revenue collection had declined by 35 percent and exports had also been affected due to pandemic-related lockdown.

He said that all the sectors of the economy had been facing difficulty and success of next phase would heavily depend on how the people would follow the SOPs developed as conditions for easing of lockdown.

"This is now your (people) responsibility to follow the SOPs," the prime minister said.

He said, "I am asking everybody to take responsibility of following the SOPs as we have to act as a nation and make the relaxation in lockdown successful collectively."

The prime minister said that there was disagreement on opening of public transport although he considers public transport opening with SOPs necessary because it was poor man's conveyance.

As the provinces have concerns over public transport, the government decided not to open the transport sector, said the prime minister, and added that Asad Umar had been asked to create consensus with the provinces through the NCOC platform.

The prime minister also stated that the Supreme Court also wanted opening of transport and railways.

The prime minister said that there were also reservations of the provinces on bringing back the overseas Pakistanis from aboard due to lack of quarantine facilities.

Dr Faisal gave an overview of global situation, and stated that the country's health system was also being impacted because of coronavirus.

There is a danger that spread of virus, which is low in Pakistan as compared to other countries, could increase in the coming days, if SOPs were not followed, and asked the people to observe the SOPs.

Asad Umar said that all the decisions being taken by the prime minister and the government were aimed at easing the difficulties of people, and for betterment of people's lives.

He said all the decisions were taken in consultation with the provinces.

After a detailed discussion and changes, those decisions were placed before the NCC where there was agreement between the provinces and the federal government.

There was agreement on six things. It was decided that in the second phase some more industries linked to the construction sector, as well as small shops in small markets located in mohallas, in rural areas, and shops would be reopened from early morning to 5pm.

He added that these shops would remain closed two days in a week with the objective to giving a break to the law enforcement agencies, police etc.

Additionally, the OPDs at designated hospitals would also be reopened.

He said schools would now remain closed till July 15, 2020.

Minister for Industries and Production Hammad Azhar said it had been unanimously decided to open allied industries of the construction sector, which included paint and pipe mills, tiles, electrical and industry and hardware units, and shops across the country.

Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training Shafqat Mehmood stated that the meeting had unanimously decided that all the educational institutes would now remain closed till 15 July instead of May 31, and all the board examinations had been cancelled.

The meeting also decided that students would be promoted to the next class, and they can get admission in colleges and universities on the basis of their previous result.

Prime Minister's Special Assistant on National Security Division Dr Moeed Yusuf said so far, 20,000 overseas Pakistanis had been brought back from various countries, and another 40,000 would be brought back from 32 countries next week.