ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has cautioned that every single person out of 100 persons in Pakistan might contract COVID-19.
Talking to media persons about prevailing coronavirus situation in the country here on Wednesday, the Prime Minister urged citizens to understand gravity of the coronavirus situation and demonstrate responsibility by adopting all necessary precautionary measures to contain the virus.
The Prime Minister urged the opposition leaders, parliamentarians and civil society to support government in its endeavours to steer Pakistan out of COVID-19.
The Prime Minister said that provision of cash assistance to poor deserving families under Ehsaas Emergency Cash Programme will begin from today (Thursday). He assured that distribution of funds to the deserving families will be totally merit-based, transparent and non-political what may come.
He said the process of awarding cash worth Rs 144 billion to 12 million deserving families will be completed within next two-and-a-half weeks.
Imran Khan informed that Coronavirus Relief Tigers Force will continue to identify deserving poor people at district and union council level, and those will be added in the list of deserving people.
Speaking on the occasion, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation Dr Sania Nishtar said the government has received over 30.5 million text messages on 8171 for financial assistance under Ehsaas Emergency Cash Programme.
She said over 12 million deserving families will be awarded Rs 12,000 each after biometric verification.
Dr Sania Nishtar said that Ehsaas Emergency Cash Programme is countrywide umbrella, and all provinces, Federation, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir are part of this platform. The special assistant asked people to contact toll-free helpline number 0800-26477 for any query.
In his remarks, Chairman National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Lt General Muhammad Afzal said that personal protective equipment (PPE) will be sent to all provincial hospitals during the next three days.
He said at present, 22 laboratories are functional across the country, while equipment for establishing further 12 laboratories has been dispatched to the provinces.
The NDMA chairman said 100,000 testing kits will arrive in Pakistan by Wednesday night out of which 35,000 kits will be given to Sindh, 15,000 to Balochistan, while 25,000 each will be given to Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He informed that 235,000 more testing kits will be imported on Friday.
Earlier, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday chaired the meeting of National Coordination Committee (NCC) on COVID-19 and discussed the situation arising in the wake of coronavirus.
The meeting reviewed progress in controlling the spread of COVID-19 in the country and discussed the strategy to minimize the impact of the challenge.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Imran Khan Wednesday appreciated the generous gesture shown by the Chinese companies towards Pakistan’s fight against COVID-19.
The Prime Minister said this during a meeting with presidents and CEOs of Chinese companies who called on him here on Wednesday.
The Prime Minister also appreciated interest of both the companies for investments in Pakistan
The presidents and CEOs of Chinese companies announced to provide financial, medical and technical support to Pakistan in fight against coronavirus pandemic. They announced donation of Rs 5 million to Prime Minister’s COVID-19 Relief Fund. They also donated medical supplies worth Rs3 million that includes 30,000 masks, 100 N-95 masks and 300 protection suits to National Disaster Management Authority.
General Manager of CMEC Li Kan apprised the Prime Minister of application of latest and environment friendly technology for enhancing cotton production in China.
President Richard J Guo evinced interest regarding investment in the renewable energy sector of Pakistan particularly manufacturing of solar panels. – TLTP
Process of awarding cash worth Rs144bn to12mn families will complete in 17 days
