Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar has announced that the Punjab province will soon achieve the capacity of conducting 10,000 coronavirus diagnostic tests every day, adding that establishment of eight new labs in different districts is near completion.
While presiding over a meeting of assembly members of Rawalpindi at Commissioner’s Office in Rawalpindi, the CM told that field hospitals have been set up in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Sargodha and other districts with a total capacity of 4500 beds, which could also be increased to 10,000 beds. More than 43,000 coronavirus tests have been conducted in the province, he added. The lockdown strategy has yielded positive results and the construction industry was being restarted under specific SOPs. The construction of roads, hospitals and schools will be resumed in the first phase with some stipulations while the resumption of different industries will be reviewed on a case-to-case basis, he added.
He made it clear that the commissioner will be empowered to ease or make stricter the lockdown conditions, while a procedure was also being designed to provide necessary relief to the citizens in the holy month of Ramazan. The purposing of easing the lockdown conditions is to facilitate the general public, he maintained. Meanwhile, he stated that PPEs and other materials were being arranged daily while financial aid under Insaf Imdad Programme will be provided purely on merit. The CM told that anti-dengue campaign was being launched adding that wheat procurement target will also be achieved. He disclosed that out of 2945 patients in the province, 508 have been healed and the arrangement was being made to inoculate the plasma of recovered patients in severe patients. The CM also directed the Administration to devise a strategy to overcome the menace of professional beggary. The assembly members congratulated the CM over the praise of Punjab government by the apex court and maintained that this has proved that the performance of Usman Buzdar is better than others. Provincial Ministers Dr Yasmin Rashid, Raja Rashid Hafeez, parliamentarians and others attended the meeting.
Meanwhile, Buzdar also inspected the 100-bed corona field hospital set up by the private sector in Rawalpindi. He appreciated the cooperation extended by the private sector adding that collective efforts are needed to control the coronavirus.
Meanwhile, Usman Buzdar later visited Faisalabad after undertaking a visit of Bhakkar. He distributed food items among the deserving persons in Agriculture University, Faisalabad. He himself distributed food bags among the destitute people. He said that he wants to fulfil his duties by supporting and assisting the deserving and destitute persons as it is fundamental responsibility of the government to properly look after them in dire need. Usman Buzdar also directed to send food bags at the doorsteps of weak and aged people.
He also chaired a meeting of National and Provincial Assembly members in the committee room of Ayub Research Centre Faisalabad. He assured that Punjab government is taking up all necessary steps in order to protect lives of the masses and such government steps are meant to safeguard the masses. He emphasized that it is duty of the masses to ensure implementation on the government’s steps and by remaining at our homes we can only save ourselves from coronavirus pandemic.
Usman Buzdar was also apprised during detailed briefing about the prevailing situation owing to coronavirus in Faisalabad division. He was further intimated that there are 95 confirmed corona patients in Faisalabad and 7 patients have gone back to their homes after getting fully recovered. There are 80 percent male corona patients out of 71 percent aged persons.
Besides, 98 thousand masks, ten thousand medical gowns and other essential medical equipment are also available in Faisalabad. The philanthropists from Faisalabad donated one lac gloves to the Punjab government. A business personality also donated a cheque in the Chief Minister Fund for Corona Control.
