A special meeting of the Concept Clearance Committee/CDWP was convened to initiate precautionary measures and approve the concept paper of "Pakistan National Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan for COVID-19" in Islamabad.

The meeting was chaired by Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Dr Muhammad Jehanzeb Khan, said a press release on Monday. Secretary Planning Zafar Hasan and senior officials from the EAD ministries also attended the meeting.

The project was presented by an official who informed that the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination have come up with a proposal to enhance country's capacity for preparedness and response to COVID-19 pandemic.

The project aims to establish functional coordination mechanism at the national and provincial levels for preparedness and response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Government of Pakistan is working to strengthen preparedness to identify, diagnose primary cases, effectively respond to minimize impact of the COVID-19 through surveillance strengthening, case management, infection prevention and control, risk communication, and coordination.

Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Dr Jehanzeb Khan stated that strong surveillance would help in prevention of the outbreak. He also noted that Pakistan already had a law, "Emergency Diseases Control Act" that supports immediate measures against outbreak of any diseases.

He further noted that such situations are dealt at national level, and the federal government will fully support the provincial governments to control the pandemic.

Secretary Planning Zafar Hasan stated that the general public needs to be informed about the safety measures to effectually control coronavirus.

Secretary EAD Dr Syed Pervaiz Abbas stated that loan financing was made available by the World Bank and the ADB; however, grant financing should be explored from other multilateral organisations. The CDWP forum approved the concept clearance proposal.-PR