Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has rejected an option of imposing another lockdown in the country which has so far reported 91,891 COVID-19 cases, with 1,905 deaths.
During a media briefing on Friday, PM Khan said that the country could not afford to go back to lockdown and urged people to follow the government’s standard operating procedures (SOPs) for curbing the spread of deadly coronavirus, reports Dawn news.
Khan said the government was preparing the budget for financial year 2020-21 in a way to generate more revenue and cut expenses as a shortfall of 800 billion PKR in total tax collection had already been witnessed due to the pandemic.
Earlier this week, Khan said that economic losses to justify his government’s decision to lift a coronavirus lockdown despite rising infections and deaths and urged people to “live with the virus.”
Last week, Information Minister Shibli Faraz said that although there were reports from some big metropolitan cities about pressure on certain hospitals due to an increase in the number of COVID-19 patients, the overall situation and conditions in hospitals were “satisfactory”.
While endorsing his decision not to impose another lockdown, Khan said that the countries still witnessing an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases were compelled to lift lockdowns.
“What these countries had gained from strict lockdown? Their people lost jobs, poverty increased while cases of coronavirus continued to increase there,” he added.
Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani and Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser at a meeting at the parliament house in Islamabad reviewed arrangements made for the two sessions.
Earlier, the Opposition rejected the idea of virtual meetings and insisted that the sessions be held in person, noting that it was an important session of parliament because the budget is expected to be presented in the National Assembly in the next week.
On May 16, Domestic flight operations resumed in Pakistan after a nearly two-month-long suspension.