To curb COVID-19: Army deployed across country

Ag APP

RAWALPINDI: Pakistan Army on Monday deployed troops across the country as ‘emergency responder’ in aide of the civil administration under Article 245 of the Constitution to help prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“From 6 this morning, the troops of Pakistan Army have arrived at district level across the country to help the civil administration in the present situation,” Director General ISPR Major General Babar Iftikhar told a media briefing on Monday.

The DG ISPR said Prime Minister Imran Khan chaired a meeting of the National Coordination Committee (NCC) that was also attended by Chief of the Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa.

“In view of the decision taken by the NCC, the federal government has called Pakistan Army in aide of the civil administration,” he said. General Babar Iftikhar said Pakistan Army troops would act as ‘emergency responder’ to assist the law enforcement agencies (LEAs) and other civil setup as it was the responsibility of the civil authorities to ensure law and order and implementation of SOPs regarding COVID-19. “The troops will reach the nook and corner of the country and will do everything to protect people’s lives,” he said. However, he said just as last year, Pakistan Army would not claim any internal security allowance while extending its services to the civil administration. “Trust of the people is the asset of the armed forces,” he said.

The Pakistan Army spokesman said it was decided that there should be enhanced deployment of troops in 16 most affected districts with high COVID-19 positivity rate. These districts include Islamabad, Peshawar, Mardan, Nowshera, Swabi, Charsadda, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Multan, Bahawalpur, Gujranwala, Karachi, Hyderabad, Quetta and Muzaffarabad.

He pointed out that the positivity rate in 51 districts had already crossed the percentage of five whereas so far there were 89,129 active COVID-19 cases in the country. As many as 4,300 people were in critical condition, out of whom 570 patients were on ventilators, while 90% of the ventilators in government hospitals were occupied.

At the level of administrative division, an officer of a brigadier rank will head the team of Pakistan Army troops. At the district level, an officer of the rank of lieutenant colonel will head the Army troops to assist the civil administration.

Major General Babar Iftikhar said the meeting of the provincial apex committee would be held once a week to discuss the situation with particular reference to the high positivity ratio areas.

He warned that the quota of oxygen allowed for industry would have to be diverted to the health sector if the prevailing situation continues which is witnessing an increase in the number of critical care patients.

“Presently, 75% of the oxygen is allocated for the health sector. But the government will have to divert the oxygen allowed to the industrial sector to the health sector if the present condition prevails,” he said. Observing that precautionary measures were the most effective response to the pandemic, Major General Babar Iftikhar said it was the individual and collective responsibility of the people in this connection. “We can ease the gravity the situation by ensuring implementation of SOPs at homes, mosques and other places,” he said.

The DG ISPR said it was due to the cooperation of the people and a sense of responsibility which kept Pakistan from a disaster situation as compared to many other countries.

However, he pointed out that the death rate (2.16%) in Pakistan had crossed the global death rate of 2.12%. “Now we need to show more care and responsibility in this situation,” the DG ISPR said.

The Pakistan Army spokesman also prayed for the protection of and Allah’s blessings for those who have dedicated themselves to serve the people without caring for their own lives.

Meanwhile, the national tally of active COVID-19 cases was recorded at 89,219 with 4,825 more people testing positive for the deadly virus and 4,234 recovering from it in the last 24 hours.

As many as 70 patients lost their lives to the coronavirus in the last 24 hours, 65 of whom were under treatment in hospitals, according to the latest update issued by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC). Most of these deaths occurred in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa followed by Punjab. The maximum number of ventilators were occupied in Multan (62%), Mardan (65%), Gujranwala (81%) and Lahore (70%) while the maximum number of oxygen beds (alternate oxygen providing facility other than ventilator administered as per medical requirement of COVID patients) were occupied in Swabi (75%), Gujranwala (85%), Peshawar (79%) and Swat (68%).

Around 570 ventilators were occupied elsewhere in the country while no COVID affected person was on ventilator in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Balochistan. Some 50,161 tests were conducted across the country on Sunday, including 16,983 in Sindh, 19,445 in Punjab, 7,709 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 3,725 in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), 1,036 in Balochistan, 333 in GB and 975 in AJK.

Around 694,046 people have recovered from the disease so far across Pakistan, making it a significant count with over 90 percent recovery ratio.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, a total of 800,452 cases have been detected that also include the perished, recovered and under treatment COVID-19 patients so far. They include 16,591 in AJK, 21,743 in Balochistan, 5,258 in GB, 73,450 in ICT, 114,077 in KP, 290,788 in Punjab and 278,545 in Sindh.

About 17,187 deaths have been recorded in the country since the eruption of the contagion. Around 4,599 have perished in Sindh (6 in last 24 hours), 7,990 in Punjab (26 in last 24 hours), 3,134 in KP (31 in last 24 hours), 665 in ICT (5 in last 24 hours), 232 in Balochistan, 105 in GB (1 in last 24 hours) and 462 in AJK (1 in last 24 hours). A total of 11,588,932 corona tests have been conducted so far. Some 5,810 corona patients are admitted in hospitals across the country.