Parliamentary committee discusses coronavirus situation in country

Not a single representative from opposition parties has attended parliamentary committee session.

ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – National Assembly (NA) Speaker Asad Qaisar on Wednesday has chaired a meeting of parliamentary committee on coronavirus and discussed strategies to prevent the spread of this disease. During the meeting, National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) officials gave briefing over current situation of coronavirus in the country. On the occasion, the speaker has expressed concerns over increasing cases of COVID-19 and requested the nation to follow standard operating procedures (SOPs). 

It is to be mentioned here that not a single representative from opposition parties has attended the session.

Later, while briefing the media after the meeting of parliamentary committee on coronavirus, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz said that the government will pursue the policy of protecting lives and livelihood of people to address the second wave of Covid-19 in the country.

He said Pakistan’s strategy of combating the pandemic in its first wave was successful, which was widely appreciated. The minister regretted that the opposition demonstrated irresponsibility by not attending the meeting of the parliamentary committee on coronavirus.

Covid-19 is a national issue and all the political parties have responsibility to play their role in this regard. There should be no political point-scoring on the issue, he added.

On the other hand, Pakistan has reported 59 deaths in the last 24 hours by novel coronavirus as the number of positive cases has surged to 382,892. The nationwide tally of fatalities has jumped to 7,803.

According to the latest figures by the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), 3,009 persons tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 24 hours.

Sindh remains the worst-hit province by the pandemic in terms of cases followed by Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. Punjab has overtaken Sindh in most number of casualties.

Till now 166,033 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Sindh, 115,786 in Punjab, 45,314 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 16,891 in Balochistan, 27,979 in Islamabad, 6,316 in Azad Kashmir and 4,573 in Gilgit-Baltistan.

Sindh remains the worst-hit province by the pandemic in terms of cases followed by Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. Punjab has overtaken Sindh in most number of casualties.

Till now 166,033 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Sindh, 115,786 in Punjab, 45,314 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 16,891 in Balochistan, 27,979 in Islamabad, 6,316 in Azad Kashmir and 4,573 in Gilgit-Baltistan.

Furthermore 2,904 individuals have lost their lives to the epidemic in Punjab 2,858 in Sindh, 1,339 in KP, 164 in Balochistan, 291 in Islamabad, 151 in Azad Kashmir and 96 in GB.

Pakistan has so far conducted 5,297,703 coronavirus tests and 41,583 in the last 24 hours. 332,974 coronavirus patients have recovered in the country whereas 1,867 patients are in critical condition.