Prime Minister Imran Khan announced on Thursday that the lockdown in place across the country to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus will be lifted in phases starting May 9.
“Lockdown will be lifted from Saturday in phases. Why are we doing this? We are doing this because our people are suffering.”
“We have decided to open the country in a phased manner from Saturday and it is now the responsibility of the masses to follow the rules otherwise we would be forced to reverse the decision.”
PM Imran said, “I was in favour of allowing public transport but the provinces did not agree to it. So, it has been decided that the provinces will make their own standard operating procedures (SOPs) and share with the Centre.”
The prime minister said that the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) headed by Planning Minister Asad Umar meets daily and analyse the current situation and take input from the provinces as well.
“Yes, the number of cases is rising, as are fatalities. However, we always knew that this would happen. Our concern was that the number of cases should not rise so high and rapidly that health facilities are burdened,” he said, adding: “That has, fortunately, not happened.”
The prime minister, who acknowledged that the positive cases are ticking up, observed that the country cannot afford to remain in extended lockdown as “our people are suffering financially”.
Pakistan had reported its first Covid-19 positive case on Feb 26 following which the government adopted a number of precautionary measures short of a national lockdown despite repeated calls by the opposition parties and the civil society to do so. The prime minister refused to oblige, noting that a nationwide lockdown will result in “poor dying from hunger”.
