ISLAMABAD: The government on Monday informed the National Assembly that coronavirus cases in the country were on a state of decline.

Responding a calling attention notice regarding alarming decrease in testing for the Covid-19 in the country, Parliamentary Secretary on National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination Dr Nausheen Hamid dispelled the impression that the there had been an alarming decrease in the testing, saying that the government changed its strategy as per the new WHO guidelines.

She said that there was only 2,000 test decrease in the average rate of testing, adding that "this is not an alarming decrease".

She said that now tests were only conducted of symptomatic patients, adding that the country was reporting a decline in the positive cases, except for Karachi, where she claimed that the cases were surging.

She pointed out that positive rate, which was 22 percent in June, was now 10 percent in July.

At the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), there were 232 beds with oxygen available occupied and now only 21 beds were occupied.

"We think coronavirus is on declining position in the country," she added.

She said that there were two testing laboratories of coronavirus but now its strength had been increased to 130.

She said that infection rate of the healthcare workers had also been decreased.

However, she said that the coronavirus had not come to an end and it could increase if the people did not continue to adopt the precautionary measures during Eid-ul-Azha.

Speaking on the calling attention notice, Naveed Qamar pointed out that there were two views, one which was being led by President Trump who believed that if there were minimum tests, there would be minimum cases, while the other was led by the WHO, which was suggesting maximum tests.

"By conducting fewer tests, are you proving that the cases of coronavirus are declining in the country. This is not a justification. We should conduct more tests," he added.

Responding to another calling attention notice moved by Romina Khursheed Alam, Adviser on Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan categorically stated that there was no plan to limit the retirement age of government employees to 55 years or abolish the pension and stop the annual increment in salaries.

Awan also laid before the House the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Ordinance 2020.

Earlier, a PML-N lawmaker, Sheikh Fayazuddin, also pointed out the quorum situation in the House. However, the House was in order when the count was done.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020