Punjab CM Buzdar aims for 10,000 Covid-19 tests per day

CM Usman Buzdar says 43,000 coronavirus tests conducted in province

LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar has announced that the province would soon achieve the capacity of conducting 10,000 coronavirus diagnostic tests every day as eight new labs in different districts would be functional soon.

While presiding over a meeting of elected representatives of Rawalpindi at Commissioner's Office in Rawalpindi, the CM said field hospitals have been set up in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Sargodha and other districts with a total capacity of 4,500 beds, which could also be increased to 10,000 beds.

“More than 43,000 coronavirus tests have been conducted in the province,” he added. “The lockdown strategy has yielded positive results and the construction industry has started working under specific SOPs.”

The CM said the construction of roads, hospitals and schools would resume in the first phase with some stipulations while the resumption of different industries would be reviewed on a case-to-case basis.

He made it clear that the commissioner would be empowered to ease or severe the lockdown conditions and a procedure was also being designed to provide necessary relief to the citizens in the holy month of Ramazan.

“The purpose of easing the lockdown conditions is to facilitate the masses,” he maintained. He said the personal protective equipment (PPE) and other materials were being arranged daily while financial aid under Insaf Imdad Programme would be provided purely on merit.

The CM said the anti-dengue campaign was being launched, adding the wheat procurement target would also be achieved. He said out of 2,945 patients in the province, 508 have been healed and arrangement was being made to inoculate the plasma of recovered patients.

The CM also directed the authorities to devise a strategy to overcome the menace of beggary.

The lawmakers congratulated the CM over the praise of Punjab government by the apex court and maintained that this has proved that the performance of Usman Buzdar was better than others.

Provincial Ministers Dr Yasmeen Rashid, Raja Rashid Hafeez, parliamentarians and others attended the meeting.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 16^th, 2020.