Coronavirus outbreak

PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has said that the provincial government is working on a relief package for the public, especially the daily wagers because of the coronavirus situation.

He was talking to media at Shahkas area in Jamrud during his one-day visit to Khyber district said an official handout. Chief Minister’s advisor on Information and Public Relations Ajmal Wazir, Chief Secretary Kazim Niaz, Secretary Relief Abid Majeed and other officials accompanied the chief minister. The chief minister visited the District Headquarters Hospital at Landikotal, Jamrud Fort and Shahkas Levies Training Centre. He reviewed quarantine and isolation facilities set up therein for the people expected to come over from Afghanistan if the Torkham border was reopened. During his visit to Landikotal hospital, the chief minister was informed by the district administration that for the time being, a quarantine centre with a capacity to accommodate 130 suspected patients and a High Dependency Unit with a capacity of 30 individuals have been set up at the hospital, with all the necessary protocols.

The quarantine facilities have been arranged in Bara and Tirah, with capacities of 120 and 30 individuals, respectively. The chief minister was told that arrangements for complete chlorination inside and outside the premises of quarantine centre have been put in place. Mahmood Khan visited the Jamrud Fort where he was briefed by the officials of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on the arrangements made to deal with any expected situation. Later talking to the media, the chief minister expressed satisfaction at the overall arrangements made by the local administration, NDMA, Pakistan Army and the Frontier Corps to control the outbreak of the virus. “Besides other necessary steps, the provincial government has appointed 1,300 doctors on an emergency basis to deal with the coronavirus patients whereas 800 will be inducted within a week,” Mahmood Khan said.