The government has decided to partially lift coronavirus lockdown from Saturday, Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Thursday, hours after the country announced its highest daily increase in new cases.
“We’re deciding that we are ending this lockdown now,” Khan said in a televised address. “We know that we’re doing it at a time when our curve is going up … but it is not edging up as we were expecting,” he said. Impoverished people cannot survive under lockdown any longer, he said. “Since we started this lockdown, we had this fear that these people who are daily wagers, who feed their kids on daily earnings, what will happen to them?” he asked, adding that the shutdown will be lifted in phases and warned people that the disease can get out of control if they didn’t take precautions. “The success of this phase is linked with public cooperation and discipline,” he said, following the meeting of the National Coordination Committee (NCC) on Covid-19 chaired by him.
Among the major decisions made by the committee included reopening of small markets in localities and rural areas, allowing businesses to open after Sehri till 17:00 hours, opening of selective OPDs (outdoor patient departments) at hospitals and closure of educational institutions till July 15, 2020.
Besides the prime minister, cabinet members briefed the media about the decisions made in the meeting concerning their respective sectors.
Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar said the government has decided to lift the lockdown for selected sectors after evolving a consensus on the issue, which was purely based on humanitarian grounds. He said six decisions have been taken regarding the easing of lockdown in the country. He said the after opening of the first phase of construction-related industries and business, the government has also decided to open second phase of construction sector from May 09.
Giving details of construction related industries and shops, Minister for Industries Hammad Azhar said the government has allowed to open pipe mills, paint manufacturing units and all relevant shops from Saturday. Similarly, he said ceramic sanitary ware, tile, electrical cables and switch gear manufacturing units and shops will also be opened from the given date. Further, steel and aluminium manufacturing units and all relevant shops have also been allowed to open their production and business, he added. Hammad Azhar said all hardware stores will also be open from May 09.
Asad Umar said small markets, the shops that are in localities and villages with no chance of big gathering, will be open from May 09. However, he said all these shops will remain open five days a week from Sehri time to 5:00 pm. He said some selected hospitals have been allowed to open outpatient departments (OPDs) to facilitate the patients suffering from various diseases. He said the meeting also decided that educational institutions will remain closed till July 15.
Earlier, Prime Minister Imran Khan said the state’s biggest responsibility is to protect the poor people, particularly in the prevailing tough situation. Even, New York has decided to open up the construction industry despite having faced thousands of deaths due to Covid-19 pandemic, he said. He, however, repeatedly advised the people to take all precautions at their workplaces and elsewhere to ensure their own protection and avert any sudden spike in the coronavirus cases. “We can overcome it only as a nation. We will not ask the police to enforce standard operating procedures (SOPs) by force and arrest the violators. I ask the Corona Tiger Force to make the people understand that this is in their own benefit … if it spikes suddenly, we will have to close down again which will ultimately make the poor suffer,” he remarked.
The prime minister said though the curve of COVID-19 cases is surging in Pakistan, the ratio is not as alarming as in other countries, and for that the people must thank Allah Almighty during the holy month of Ramazan. He said being a responsible nation, the people must not let the poor face the burden of the crisis alone rather share it collectively. “This is time we act as responsible citizens and follow the SOPs. The countries releasing lockdown, have also announced some guidelines to be followed by the people,” he said.
He said the government has already announced unprecedented relief packages for the construction industry as well as poor and unemployed people but it cannot keep it up for long owing to already not-so-good economic condition of the country. He said the government has spent its revenue on relief packages and facing 35 percent reduction in tax receipts besides decline in exports.
