PM Imran Khan expressed his views after a meeting of the National Coordination Committee (NCC) in Islamabad, regarding the coronavirus situation in the country and government way ahead to deal with it.
The meeting decided that shops and businesses could function with proper implementation of SOPs until 7 pm. There will be a complete lockdown in the whole country every Saturday and Sunday.
The NCC also allowed running 10 more passenger trains. Pakistan Railways will now operate a total of 40 trains in the country.
Talking to the media after the meeting, PM Khan said: “There are 25 million laborers whose families will starve if they don’t work. So I, personally, have always believed that the lockdown was going to affect these workers.
“And the purpose of a lockdown is that it only stops the spread of the virus. It is not a solution. Let me repeat, a lockdown isn’t a solution or treatment.
“When we impose and enforce lockdowns, people starve. Those who live in DHA don’t care about these things. They analyse things differently.”
Prime Minister Imran Khan has warned that the coronavirus will continue to spread.
“The world has agreed, the richest countries have come to the conclusion that the virus will spread no matter what. Nothing can be done about it. The virus will spread and our death toll will also rise; I told you that from day one.”
He added that the onus was on the public to take precautionary measures to curb the spread of the virus. “If we don’t take precautions then we will continue to suffer.”
Prime Minister Imran Khan announced that Pakistani nationals stranded abroad will be allowed to come back to the country.
“I am worried about our overseas Pakistanis and labourers in the UAE and Saudi. They send valuable remittances to us. So we have decided that we will bring all of them back and will test them. If they test positive, we will ask them to quarantine themselves but we will now bring everyone back.”
PM Imran Khan said that the tourism industry should be revived once again, urging the public to follow the SOPs outlined by the government.
“I think that tourism should open now because tourism provides jobs to many in Gilgit-Baltistan and elsewhere. My appeal to you is please be a responsible nation because we have to prevent the spread of virus and also avoid poverty and misery.”
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