Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar Saturday said as per pledges made by the government, the coronavirus testing capacity in the country has been increased by over three times within a week.
“On March 15, we had a capacity of 473 tests per day while during last three days, the tests conducted in the country were 5,800, 6,200, and 6,400 per day, and by end of April, it is likely that we will attain testing capacity of 25,000 per day,” he told a media briefing here. He said the meeting of National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) has decided to continue the government’s policy of maintaining balance between imposing lockdown to contain the virus and to open some selected sectors to avoid unemployment and hunger among the poor but with enhanced capacity. “More protective measures will be adopted; health sector will be further strengthened by providing maximum facilities; and number of ventilators beds will be increased,” he added.
Asad Umar said the meeting decided that with the help of technology and other resources, all such people will be approached for testing with whom a person with positive coronavirus had met during the previous few days. He said the federal government did not blindly follow the West as was stressed by some sectors in the country which has yielded positive results as by maintaining balance, the virus did not spread rapidly and the poor daily wagers also did not hurt greatly. He said now the world is also calling against complete lockdown and asking for maintaining balance between containing the virus and imposing lockdowns. “We made decisions according to our own ground realities and now the whole world is also doing what we have done already,” he added. He said it is possible to root out the disease in two weeks if all people are locked in their homes, but in reality it is not possible because by doing so, thousands of people will die from hunger if not from the disease. “That is why we want to make a policy to introduce such a system in which common people is not much affected,” he added. “Not only the poor but even the middle class people are feeling the heat of ongoing lockdown in the country,” he said, and reiterated that all decisions are being made in larger interest of the country and the nation and no politics is involved in this process.
