PM Imran lauds team for being first to enforce 'smart lockdowns'

He says Pakistan must follow SOPs in order for the country to successfully combat Covid-19

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday took pride in his team for being among the first to enforce 'smart lockdowns' in the country.

Sharing a Bloomberg opinion piece on smart lockdowns being the future of Europe, on Twitter, the premier said he was proud of his team for helping him navigate through the Covid-19 crisis in the country.

The premier said that if Pakistan continued to follow standard operating procedures (SOPs), the country will successfully tackle the crisis.

My team was amongst the first to enforce smart lockdowns. I am proud of it for helping me continue to navigate our country through the Covid19 crisis. InshaAllah, from now onwards if we follow SOPs we will see off the worst of this crisis.https://t.co/xC3kBWdxo3

— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) June 28, 2020

Earlier this month, the prime minister said that Pakistan was a poor country which could not afford a harsh lockdown, adding that 'smart lockdown' was the only solution.

Addressing a press conference in Karachi, he said that Pakistan managed to balance the situation like no other country. However, he added, that the country could only defeat Covid-19 by following the standard operating procedures (SOPs) recommended by the government.

Defending the federal government’s strategy on the pandemic, he stated that Pakistan was a poor country that could not afford a lockdown akin to Europe and the United States.

“40 per cent of population of Karachi lives in katchi abadis (slums). We’re a poor country. We cannot afford such a harsh lockdown… we have to save people from both hunger and coronavirus,” he added.