What Pakistan has done so far to fight the coronavirus pandemic

Dawn.com, the country's leading media house, takes a look at what Pakistan — which reported its first case on Feb 26 — has done to contain the spread of the virus

Mar 16, 2020
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Dawn.com, the country's leading media house, takes a look at what Pakistan — which reported its first case on Feb 26 — has done to contain the spread of the virus.

Pre-screening at airports
Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) announces in January that all passengers on its flights from Beijing will be pre-screened.
Civil Aviation Authority says every passenger from China will go through health counters in Islamabad.
SAPM Mirza says evacuation of Pakistanis from China is against the larger interest of the country after four students in Wuhan are confirmed to have coronavirus.
Fumigation is declared must for pre-loved items coming from China.
Airlines told to get health declaration from passengers coming to Pakistan in the last week of February.
Screening of Chinese citizens in the country
Punjab government in January sends a team of doctors to screen Chinese nationals.
Flights suspended
PIA suspends flights to Beijing until Feb 2; it later extends the suspension till March 15.
Pakistanis stranded in virus-hit China start to return as flight operations resume.
Flight operations to Iran are suspended from midnight of Feb 27.
PIA suspends flight operation to Qatar and Italy in March.
Government announces international flights will only operate from Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad on March 13.
Travel and movement restrictions
Balochistan government restricts Pakistanis from going to Iran until the coronavirus is over, as the number of cases in the neighbouring country rises to 8 at the end of February.
Pakistan also temporarily closes its border at all five entry points — Taftan, Gwadar, Turbat, Panjgur and Washuk — along the border with Iran.
Trade activities between Pakistan and Iran resume after a 13-day suspension on March 8.
The government announces closure of borders with Iran and Afghanistan for two weeks.
The federal government bans large public gatherings including weddings and conferences; orders closure of cinemas. Provinces follow suit with Sindh closing shrines, swimming pools and gyms etc for three weeks.

Testing
Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Zafar Mirza says in January that Pakistan will send samples to the US, China and the Netherlands for testing because it does not have testing facilities yet.
In February, SAPM Mirza says Pakistan is equipped to test for coronavirus after importing 1,000 kits from China.
Sindh cabinet approves Rs100 million to procure 5,000 coronavirus testing kits.
On March 12, the Prime Minister's Office says nearly 900,000 travellers have been screened and 471 people have been tested for the coronavirus so far.

Quarantine
At the beginning of February, the premier’s aide on health says that Pakistani citizens stranded in China will not be allowed to return until they have been quarantined for 14 days.
Movement of Chinese working on the Saindak copper and gold project is restricted.
Pilgrims who came from Iran are quarantined at the border after the screening process in Taftan.
More than 800 people who have recently returned to Sindh after travelling to Iran have been quarantined in their homes as of March 3.
Federal government decides mild to moderate patients of the virus will be isolated in homes and critical patients will be admitted to hospitals.
Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho says necessary arrangements for developing quarantine facility outside the immigration section in 25 cubicles at Karachi airport have been made.
Sindh's chief minister orders establishing of quarantine centres in every district of the province on March 14.

Shutting down institutions
Sindh government announces that educational institutions in the province will be shut for two days as the first two cases of coronavirus are confirmed and later extends them to March 15, eventually deciding to keep schools closed till May 31.
Balochistan announces closure of schools until March 31.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa cabinet decides on March 13 to close all educational institutions for 15 days.
Gilgit-Baltistan government announces closure of schools until March 7, extends it till March 13 and eventually until March 31.
Federal government announces closure of schools across the country until April 5.

Pakistan Super League
The Pakistan Cricket Board gives permission to all international players participating in the tournament to leave over coronavirus fears. All Pakistan Super League matches will now be played in the absence of spectators.

Getting hospitals ready
Provincial governments, private medical institutes and the World Health Organisation try to build stocks of personal protective equipment as its shortage hampers efforts to deal with coronavirus.
Mirza claims that the National Action Plan against the virus is being implemented.
The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan allows export of respiratory masks and other personal protection equipment.
The federal government decides to equip Balochistan with all machinery and resources in order to carry out screening of pilgrims returning from Iran.

Sindh
Hospitals in Sindh put on alert over the deadly coronavirus, according to the health minister.
Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre constitutes an 18-member Rapid Response Team to prepare against the novel coronavirus.
Dow University of Health Sciences in Karachi becomes the second facility in Pakistan to be able to detect coronavirus.
Sindh government decides to form a task force on coronavirus, a day after Pakistan confirms its first two cases.
The Sindh administration asks families who have recently visited Iran to not send their children to school for 14 days.
The government orders all hospitals to share the record of all patients showing symptoms of pneumonia so that further medical investigations can be done to contain coronavirus.
Sindh establishes 12 isolation centres across the province.

Punjab
A high dependency unit (HDU) is established at three government-run hospitals in Rawalpindi, later HDUs are established in all districts of Punjab.
A 50-bed coronavirus quarantine is set up at Rawalpindi Institute of Urology.
Punjab government releases Rs226m to check coronavirus spread.
The government sets up a technical team and trains 10,000 people to deal with the virus.
Punjab cabinet declares medical emergency across the province on March 12.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Hospitals in Battagram and Shangla set up coronavirus isolation wards.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government declares emergency for 30 days which it later extends for three months.
Around 100 private hospitals of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa reserve a total of 387 beds for suspected coronavirus cases.
Rapid response units are established in all the districts of KP. At least 920 health workers are given necessary training apart from protective equipment; surveillance centres are set up.
A 12-hour helpline is launched to provide help and information to citizens from medical professionals regarding coronavirus.
The chief minister launches a provincial task force directly under his chairmanship to deal with the coronavirus.

Balochistan
Quetta health authorities establish an isolation ward in Fatima Jinnah Chest and General Hospital.
The Balochistan government imposes emergency in all bordering districts with Iran with immediate effect.
Balochistan government releases Rs200m to combat the coronavirus.
Gilgit-Baltistan
The provincial government declares a health emergency on March 12.

Azad Jammu and Kashmir
AJK Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider announces health emergency on March 14.

Other measures
The National Security Committee decides to start a media campaign to brief the public about coronavirus prevention measures and to combat misinformation.
It also decides to form a National Coordination Committee for COVID-19.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1540604/ghabrana-nahi-hai-heres-everything-pakistan-has-done-so-far-to-fight-the-coronavirus-pandemic

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