Govt imparting special training to paramedical staff, doctors: Zafar
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Mirza asked citizens to strictly follow all SOPs issued by the government
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Special Assistant to Prime Minister on National Health Services Dr Zafar Mirza on Friday said that the government has published a book for training and awareness of doctors, nurses and para medical staff deployed at intensive care units (ICUs) to look after Corona patients.
In a media briefing on COVID-19, Dr Mirza said that the book Basic assessment and support in intensive care will also be available on official website and termed it a good resource for health professionals.
He said that the situation is better in Pakistan regarding Covid-19 as compared with other countries of the world. He added the government has gradually normalizing the lockdown in order to give relief to common man and for poor segment of society.
He said initially those businesses are allowed where the chances of spread of disease is very low but with obligation to follow those SOPs which were prepared to continue business activities with zero space for any negligence to invite spread of corona.
Mirza asked citizens to strictly follow all SOPs issued by the government to protect the citizens from the disease including SOPs for shopping, for use of masks, for business activities for quarantine or for mosques.
He added the policy of smart lockdown could be successfully implemented if citizens are fully cooperated with the government and implemented all such SOPs.
The special assistant said that people will be informed through media about their responsibilities and the citizens can also visit official websites to know about these SOPs. He advised people to strictly follow the social distancing and other precautionary measures to stem the increase in coronavirus cases. He said that citizens should continue implementing protective measures as per health officials directions to prevent from carrying coronavirus.
He contradicted the news item appearing in some section of press regarding ministry s reservation on procurement by National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). He made it clear that the ministry did not raise any question on procurement and asked to use facts in reporting with responsibility.
Sharing breakup of corona cases, Dr Zafar Mirza said over 182,000 tests had been conducted in Pakistan so far while this figure is gradually increasing day by day, adding that so far total 16,817 confirmed cases had been reported with 990 cases during last 24 hours.
He added in last 24 hours, 358 corona cases were reported from Sindh, 279 cases from Punjab, 246 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 30 from Islamabad and six from Gilgit Baltistan and 71 from Balochistan.
He said that 26% patients had been recovered completely out of total confirmed cases while total death figure was 385 with 24 deaths during last 24 hours. He added 42,000 tests.