Islamabad: Prime Minister Imran Khan announced on Thursday that the National Coordination Committee (NCC) has decided to lift lockdown across the country from May 9 (Saturday) in phases.

The premier made the announcement after chairing the NCC meeting in Islamabad where recommendations made by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) regarding reopening of small businesses and educational institutions by easing lockdown curbs in the wake coronavirus pandemic were discussed.

“We have decided to lift the lockdown … I must make it clear that lockdown will be lifted from Saturday … not from tomorrow but from Saturday,” the prime minister said in a televised briefing after the NCC meeting.

“We are doing it because the people are in extreme difficulty. Small business owners, daily-wagers, labourers are facing difficulties. We fear that small and medium industries may completely vanish if we do not lift the lockdown,” the premier said.

During his speech, the prime minister added that the government had earlier opened the construction sector and now it has decided to open industries connected with it in different phases. Throughout his speech, he emphasised on the need of maintaining social distancing and following the SOPs earlier prepared.

“Though the curve is going up, but we can’t say when we would witness the peak. Even countries that have flat curves can not surely say anything about it,” he said, adding that Pakistan did not witness a peak in the coronavirus cases and deaths as was witnessed in the European countries.

“We did not face the kind of pressure that European countries or the rest of the world had to face,” he said.

Reiterating that Pakistan’s situation was different from the rest of the world, the premier said, the government has decided to make things easier for people.

Expressing that he himself was in favour of opening public transport, the premier said the provinces could not agree on the opening of public transport at this moment. “We do not have complete consensus on opening public transport yet,” he said.

“We have asked the provinces to make SOPs so that public transport could be made functional. Public transport has even opened in the countries where 30,000 people passed away due to coronavirus,” he added.

Commenting on the issue of bringing overseas Pakistan to the country, Imran said roughly 125,000 Pakistanis wanted to come back but “we need to go for self-quarantine if we wish to bring them back”.

“When we bring people from abroad we have to conduct tests, keep them in quarantine and we do not have that many resources,” he maintained, adding that “Pakistanis coming from abroad will have to go for self-quarantine.”

Federal ministers, chief ministers of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan, Prime Minister Azad Jammu & Kashmir and senior officials attended and participated in the NCC meeting via video link.

On Wednesday, the NCOC had finalised its recommendations about easing lockdown and restrictions across the country from May 9 but left the final decision in this regard to the NCC.

The high-powered body deliberated upon resuming air and train travel, reopening of schools from June 1, and allowing businesses to open under new guidelines.

It also gave several recommendations pertaining to the transport industry, domestic flights, rallies and gatherings, opening of small shops instead of shopping malls, among other things.

On Tuesday, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz had revealed that the federal cabinet has approved easing of lockdown and restrictions imposed in the country to stem the spread of coronavirus from May 9.

While briefing the media about the decisions made in the cabinet meeting chaired by PM Imran, the information minister had said that the final decision in that regard would be taken in the NCOC meeting on Wednesday.

The NCOC, however, finalised proposals only that would be presented before the prime minister in the NCC meeting today.

On Monday, the PM Imran had informed members of the national and provincial assemblies that the government has decided that lockdown will gradually be eased in the coming days keeping in view the ground realities, especially the economic situation of the country and the problems of the common man.

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2216236/1-lockdown-eased-phases-starting-may-9-pm-imran/