COVID-19: Virus situation in Pakistan worsens

Islamabad: The health situation in Pakistan due to the coronavirus is deteriorating fast and the federal as well as provincial governments are battling hard to contain the virus from spreading further.

On Friday, the total number of coronavirus cases reported across the country was 125,933 and deaths 2,463 while a day earlier on Thursday the numbers were 119,536 and 2,356 respectively. This marks an increase of 6,397 new cases 107 deaths in last 24 hours.

Judge orders COVID-19 SOPs at lockups

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday directed the District Administration, police as well as the subordinate judiciary to implement coronavirus Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) at all the judicial and police lockups and ensure the accused in temporary lockup are not paraded unnecessarily while handcuffed or in shackles.

Chief Justice Athar Minallah gave these orders while hearing a petition regarding the plight of those arrested and the risks they are facing due to the deplorable conditions at the “Bakhshi Khana” (judicial lockups) and the lock-ups established in the police stations of the Islamabad Capital Territory.

“It has been observed that the arrested prisoners are paraded without SOPs prescribed to meet the challenges of the COVID-19,” the judge observed in his judgment.

The court also nominated members from police, district administration, subordinate judiciary, bar council, and journalists association of the IHC reporters to jointly inspect the Bakhshi Khana and temporary lock-ups to assess the conditions having regard to fundamental rights granted under the constitution of Pakistan.

A pre-trial or under-trial prisoner is presumed to be innocent until his/her guilt is proven before a competent court. Even a convicted person cannot be treated in a degraded manner, the judge observed in his verdict.

Another PML-N leader tests positive

Pakistan’s main opposition party Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) received another jolt on Friday as its senior leader and former Speaker of the National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq tested positive for coronavirus. Earlier, almost all the frontline leaders of the party including its president and younger brother of former premiere Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif, party’s vice president and ex-PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, party’s secretary general Ahsan Iqbal, spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb and others have been infected with virus.

Sardar Ayaz Sadiq on his official Twitter account announced, “My test results are in and unfortunately I have tested positive for COVID-19. Need your prayers as I self quarantine. May Allah keep each one of us in His protection.”

Rs10m for health workers who die in line of duty

The Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Health Dr Zafar Mirza on Friday paid a rich tribute to doctors and medical professionals and announced a package of Rs3 million (Dh66,240) to Rs10 million (Dh220,801) for health workers who lose their lives while performing duties at isolation wards or quarantine centres for the care of COVID-19 patients.

Addressing a news conference in the federal capital, Mirza said no package can match up to the sacrifices doctors and their families are making. Corona frontline workers will be exempt from taxes and the government has trained about 20,000 health workers, he added.