Lockdown decision shouldn’t be delayed, Bilawal, Shahbaz ask govt

KARACHI: The Chairman of Pakistan People’s Party, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, has said that lockdown is the only solution to the emergency situation emerging in the Sindh province in wake of the massive spread of the coronavirus epidemic.

In his message on Twitter on Saturday, the PPP chairman said that Pakistan has to move towards the complete lockdown to prevent further spread of the viral disease. He said that the delay by every hour in the decision of imposing a complete lockdown in the country is making this fight against this viral epidemic difficult.

“We have already delayed the decision of imposing the complete lockdown in the country as the decision to this effect should have been reached earlier,” said Bilawal. He said that they were required to make the ultimate decision of imposing the lockdown in the country as early as possible to lessen the severity of this emergency situation and to overcome this viral epidemic. “No province alone could do the fight against the coronavirus. We need the fullest support of the federal government to fully implement our decision of lockdown,” he said.

“While we are optimistic for the good outcome, at the same time we should prepare for the worst. In case of the worst case scenario our public health care system would be overwhelmed,” he said. “We do need the fullest support of the federal government for conducting maximum number of tests and for taking care of the needy people,” said the PPP chairman. “We do need to learn from the experiences of other countries. It is not the issue as what to do as the issue is that when it is to be done,” he said. Bilawal also appealed to people to remain inside their homes to keep them and others in their surroundings fully secure till the time the government didn’t order the complete lockdown regime in the country.

Meanwhile, the PPP chairman has announced to hold a meeting of the Central Executive Committee of the Peoples Party via the video link system. In his message on twitter, the PPP chairman said that it would be the first time the CEC meeting would be held via video-link arrangement. He also proposed to convene an All Parties’ Conference via the video link on the Coronavirus emergency in the country to bring all the political parties on the same page on this vital national issue.

INP adds: PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif demanded a nationwide lockdown due to the growing threat of coronavirus.He said the government should immediately take steps for the lockdown of the country and warned of a terrible human tragedy in the event of any delay by the government. The former chief minister expressed concerns about the worsening situation of the economy and asked the government to take appropriate steps at the national level for improving the economic situation.

He urged the government to ensure provision of protective gear and other essential supplies to doctors and medical staff across the country. He said the government should take notice of incidents like lack of testing kits, doctors contracting virus in KP and large gatherings in Lahore and other parts of the country.