Pakistan's spike in coronavirus cases raises quarantine concerns

HariPrasad-1

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I heard a shocking news in a discussion from Hamid Bashani. POK has only 4 ventilators.
 

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Sale gander log. Keep them isolated in one place. Let them die their own deathy
looks like Pakijabi cases are blowing out of proportions due to these guys. these fkers don't know how to manage the crowds and they are pointing fingers at our Isolated incidents . let's enjoy their incompetency . Feel sorry for the average Joe of pakis though
 

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I heard a shocking news in a discussion from Hamid Bashani. POK has only 4 ventilators.
Total Pakistan has some 2000 to 3000 ventilators before this Pandemic started , they are claiming they were making, begging god knows what , we never know what is going between chinks and Pakis. But last time they got underwear and bra cups for usage as Masks form their jaaan chinks:biggrin2::bounce::bounce:
 

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Total Pakistan has some 2000 to 3000 ventilators before this Pandemic started , they are claiming they were making, begging god knows what , we never know what is going between chinks and Pakis. But last time they got underwear and bra cups for usage as Masks form their jaaan chinks:biggrin2::bounce::bounce:

Nuclear power. Sale mask to bana nahi skate. China GSM mask made of used undergarments it is their surat and they talk about Pakistan being a nuclear power . Baigerat log.
 

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Pakistan Coronavirus: Sughra Bibi's husband Allah Baksh said he is a daily wager and due to the lockdown could not find work and was facing problems in feeding his family, which includes six children.

Karachi:

A pregnant woman has died of starvation in Pakistan's Sindh province amid the coronavirus lockdown imposed in the country, according to media reports.

Sughra Bibi, 30, died in Jhudo town of Sindh's Mirpur Khas district last week, reported the "Daily Express" newspaper.

Ms Bibi's husband Allah Baksh said he is a daily wager and due to the lockdown could not find work and was facing problems in feeding his family, which includes six children.

Mr Baksh claimed he did not even have money to bury his wife. Local residents raised money through donations for Ms Bibi's burial, the report said.

The Sindh government announced that they were investigating the starvation-related death.

"The Mirpur Khas administration has been asked to submit a report immediately as the government made arrangements for distributing free ration and cash to the poor in rural areas of Sindh," a government spokesperson said.

"The report says the woman was buried after the local residents raised money for the last rites. Couldn't they provide the money for some rations to this family?" the spokesperson said.

Pakistan is under lockdown for over a month now to check the spread of coronavirus which has claimed 176 lives and infected nearly 8,500 people in the country.

The government has unveiled a number of schemes for daily wage earners who are the worst hit economically in this curfew period. However, there have been reports of discrimination in the distribution of ration.

 

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looks like Pakijabi cases are blowing out of proportions due to these guys. these fkers don't know how to manage the crowds and they are pointing fingers at our Isolated incidents . let's enjoy their incompetency . Feel sorry for the average Joe of pakis though
We hate Pakistanis very much and there are reasons for that. However, we need to to discriminate between innocent baluchis, pakhtoons, and some Sindhis from Pukjabi goons Pakistanis. Yesterday, I listen to a video of a Pakistani who was appealing to the Pakistani abroad not to come back to Pakistan even if they died there. He said that at least they will have the dignified death there. Pakistani don't have dignified death in their fate. They don't have money, they don't have food to eat , they don't have event of tomato in their fate, they can't eat drink milk, they don't have hospitals or medicine, they are left to die like dogs on the streets.
 

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This won't end well
-
Pakistan has allowed congregational prayers in the mosques under strict guidelines.
President of Pakistan Dr Arif Alvi succumbed to the pressure of religious fraternity during a marathon meeting conducted online with them in Islamabad and issued directors to also Tarawish and Friday prayers duirng Ramadan despite increasing number of coronavirus cases and deaths."

 

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Pakistan moves to save face as coronavirus hits Belt and Road

Government's order for work to resume a bid to foster China ties, analysts say
ADNAN AAMIR, Contributing writer April 22, 2020 14:39 JST

Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, greets Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan in Beijing, in November 2018. Khan must balance ties with Beijing and acting to protect public health in Pakistan. © Reuters

KARACHI -- The government of Pakistan has ordered the resumption of all infrastructure and energy projects that are part of China's Belt and Road Initiative, but experts believe the move is a matter of face-saving.
Work on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a major piece of the Belt and Road, stopped when the novel coronavirus started to spread in Pakistan in February. According to Johns Hopkins University data, Pakistan has confirmed 9,216 cases as of Tuesday, including 192 deaths.

Naghmana Hashmi, Pakistan's ambassador in Beijing, told Pakistani media on Sunday that a number of mechanisms have been established to complete all corridor projects within the prescribed time frame. But analysts say restarting the projects at the height of the pandemic is meant to spare Beijing and Islamabad embarrassment.

Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia program at the Washington-based Wilson Center, believes that resumption of the projects sends a "business as usual" message about an effort that both countries see as crucial. Kugelman told the Nikkei Asian Review that the decision comes even as Pakistan tries to limit its exposure to outside the world. And with fears of a possible second wave of the coronavirus in China, there is a compelling public health rationale for slowing things down.

Malik Siraj Akbar, a Washington-based South Asia analyst, believes China and Pakistan may resume work on corridor projects as a public relations exercise to show the world the strength of their relationship and commitment to the infrastructure-building drive, even during challenging times.

Akbar added that it would make sense to halt the projects due to COVID-19. Postponing the work would be a positive gesture to the Pakistani public demonstrating the commitment of Prime Minister Imran Khan's government to people's health, rather than to an economic development effort that can wait.
A Pakistani soldier directs traffic on a largely deserted road in Karachi on April 17. The government has called a halt to most economic activity to slow the spread of the coronavirus. © Reuters
The global economic slowdown triggered by the coronavirus has also impacted Pakistan, with some experts putting the cost as high as $15.29 billion. In order to finance its economic shortfalls and battle the virus, Pakistan secured a $1.39 billion disbursement from the International Monetary Fund under the fund's Rapid Financing Instrument.

Amid the economic crisis, some have questioned the economic viability of Belt and Road projects. According to the Planning Commission of Pakistan, the country's top development planning body, Chinese skilled laborers are paid 1,300% more than Pakistani laborers for the Main Line 1 (ML-1) railway project, a discrepancy it says must be rationalized.

The commission has also asked Pakistan Railways to evaluate the impact of a huge Chinese loan of almost $9 billion for the ML-1, which is the single largest infrastructure project for the corridor in the country. Pakistan expects 90% of the funding for the ML-1 to come from the Chinese loan. The commission fears the terms may saddle the country with heavy debt if it is not looked into now.

On the other hand, there are bullish voices who say that resuming Belt and Road projects is worth the risk.
Hasaan Khawar, a public policy analyst based in Islamabad, believes the corridor's special economic zones can help Pakistan solve its economic woes. "The world is changing fast, and it will be a different place by the time the pandemic is over. Investment flows will shrink, and China will be one of the very few countries with available capital," Khawar said. He added that the corridor and the zones provide a ready framework for Pakistan to attract Chinese capital and should, therefore, be a priority for Pakistan.

Malik believes that the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis will leave China better positioned as a global power and savior of a world in deep crisis. After this, the world will see a continuation and expansion of Belt and Road projects, he says.

Kugelman sees the corridor as the most concrete and active part of the Belt and Road and says its trajectory will be shaped to a great extent by how the corridor develops. He adds that if corridor projects are put on hold until the pandemic has ended, the Belt and Road as a whole could take a pause. If they move ahead, that portends more forward movement for the initiative in the near future, Kugelman says.

 

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The polio eradication programme has swung behind the country's efforts to tackle the pandemic – but it could could come at a cost

Until recently, the staff of the poliovirus eradication campaign call centre in Islamabad would have received around 4,000 daily calls at the height of a vaccination push. The phones now ring as many as 70,000 times a day as staff instead hand out advice and information about Covid-19.

Likewise a nationwide surveillance network of doctors that once sought telltale signs of childhood polio paralysis now searches for suspicious coughs and fevers that could signal coronavirus infection.

Pakistan's internationally funded polio eradication programme has swung behind the country's efforts to tackle the pandemic.
Earlier this month, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) announced it would halt vaccination operations to stop door-to-door teams spreading the new illness, and instead dedicate staff and resources to tackling the pandemic.

The programme has for years received huge international investment and interest. Despite struggling to finally stamp out poliovirus, it is considered one of the best organised and most accountable parts of Pakistan's health infrastructure.

The poliovirus eradication campaign call centre in Islamabad


The poliovirus eradication campaign call centre in Islamabad receives as many as 70,000 calls a day as staff instead hand out advice and information about Covid-19
But its re-tasking also means the country is bracing for a spike in polio cases later in the year, following a disappointing 18 months which had seen the campaign stumble while apparently on the brink of success.

Global health chiefs hope the programme's surveillance network, communications experts and army of community workers can bring much needed rigour, energy and expertise.

So far the country has had surprisingly few cases, but in a nation of 220 million where the healthcare system is patchy or beyond reach for many, and cities are packed, the prospects of a runaway outbreak are grim

Dr Mike Ryan, the World Health Organization's top emergencies expert, himself spent nearly three years on the polio programme in Pakistan.
“Pakistan continues to carry out good surveillance and has had one of the most effective surveillance systems for polio in the world,” he said last week. “And not only a surveillance system for the virus but has been doing extremely good environmental surveillance and other surveillance for polio viruses over a large number of years.”
The call centre has been boosted from 55 staff to more than 250. The network of 20,000 full time front line community workers is being used for community surveillance, spotting those with respiratory problems and encouraging them to take tests. Communications teams used to countering polio misinformation are switching their focus to Covid-19.

“There has been a lot of investment made in the polio programme and it's good to use existing programmes and not duplicate, said Dr Mishal Khan, an associate professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

“Ideally if there is more money coming, the same programmes are strengthened.” But she warned the polio programme existed in its own isolated silo from the rest of the healthcare system and could be difficult to integrate.

“If Covid ends up being not as widespread and as bad as we fear in Pakistan, we don't also want to end up in a situation where we have dismantled some other critical health programmes and you have saved yourself the worst of Covid, but are having a resurgence in say vaccine preventable deaths,” she said.
International officials admit that the pivot to Covid-19 is very likely to produce an increase in cases of polio. The World Health Organization's Michel Zaffran, who heads GPEI, said in early April that he was “devastated” to have to stop polio operations.

Health workers in Pakistan expect that change of focus to last at least six months. When the GPEI announced the switch it said it would monitor the situation to “be prepared to fire up campaigns as soon as safely possible”.
 

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'We are running out of beds': Doctors plead to govt to enforce stricter coronavirus lockdown




Dr Saad Niaz. a gastroenterologist at the Dow University of Health Sciences, addresses the emergency briefing by doctors of the Pakistan Medical Association, in Karachi, on Wednesday. — Geo News
A group of Karachi's leading doctors, belonging to the Pakistan Medical Association on Wednesday painted a sobering picture of the on-the-ground realities faced by frontline workers in the fight against the coronavirus.

Urging the government and religious leaders to continue to abide by recommended precautions instead of easing restrictions, they warned a point will otherwise come when they will have to choose between one of two patients to save.

Addressing the emergency briefing, Dr Saad Niaz. a gastroenterologist at the Dow University of Health Sciences, said that it was important to remember the outbreak is foremost a health issue.
"This is a medical problem which [of course] has its resulting economic and social effects. But we need to understand that this is nonetheless primarily a medical issue."

"From April 16 to April 21, we went from 6,772 patients to 9,464 patients, which is a near 40% increase [...] an increase by 2,692 patients. If you count patients from February 25, we took time in reaching 2,000 patients," he said.

Dr Niaz regretted that there was unfortunately the impression that this is not as serious an issue in our country as in other countries. "The reason for that is our testing capacity, which is an issue that will remain," he said.

Warning against such impressions, he said: "This is not true at all. All of us doctors think the numbers are higher and will continue to rise."

"Some people thought that because we live in the sub-continent, [coronavirus] won't affect us and if it does affect us, it won't be as severe."

"We have not even peaked yet. So it is very important to bust all these myths," said Dr Niaz.
"If we hadn't placed the country under a lockdown, then the situation would have been different. Similarly, if we don't act now, two weeks down the line, the situation will be very different."

"The wards are all already 80% saturated. And in Pakistan's case, there are more patients who are under 60 years of age," he said.

Dr Niaz also drew attention to the fact that more and more doctors are getting affected, with as many as 162 who had already fallen prey to the disease from Sindh.

"We are already very under-equipped when it comes to our healthcare. We don't have what it takes to fight this," he said, citing lack of COVID-19 specific facilities and personal protection equipment for doctors throughout the country.

"We will have great difficulty in the coming days such as refusal to admit patients because of no beds," he said.

"The severity [of the outbreak] is much more than what we think already. All experts think this will blow out of control over the next two to four weeks. And with non-COVID patients coming in, the hospitals will have to be closed [to more patients]."

The DUHS doctor explained that the country's current capacity had so far sustained the volume of patients "because due to a lockdown in place, they were only trickling in".

"Projected figures stand at 70,000 and if even 10% of those are serious cases, we don't even have the capacity to accommodate those. There are no ventilators.

"Our only option is to be aggressive with precautions. We don't have the skill or capacity to combat something of the scale it could reach.

"Whatever we have done so far will have to be continued," he stressed.
"What I fear is that we start treating patients on the road. We will be deciding between a 35-year-old and 55-year-old and giving preference to the younger one."

Doctors angry, stressed out
Dr Abdul Bari, who is the CEO of Indus Hospital, said that after the lockdown was eased on April 14, doctors had vehemently protested against the decision.

"We thought that a lockdown of at least two incubation periods would take place and that would show some positive signs," he said.

He said that the arrival of Ramazan, which had prompted the government to review the measures taken and subsequently ease restrictions, had resulted in a surge in cases.

"This led to great anger and stress in the doctor community as they are the experts in this situation [and must be heard]," said Bari, adding: "All of Karachi's medical facilities are now almost full to the brim with patients."

Another doctor regretted the lockdown had been scaled back.
"The Sindh government had taken very good measures in the beginning.
"That has turned into a joke now. There are countless vehicles on the road [...] We have gathered here to tell you we have no space in hospitals anymore," said the doctor.

He said the government had made a "huge blunder", as had the religious scholars, in agreeing on an easing of restrictions.

 

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The polio eradication programme has swung behind the country's efforts to tackle the pandemic – but it could could come at a cost

Until recently, the staff of the poliovirus eradication campaign call centre in Islamabad would have received around 4,000 daily calls at the height of a vaccination push. The phones now ring as many as 70,000 times a day as staff instead hand out advice and information about Covid-19.

Likewise a nationwide surveillance network of doctors that once sought telltale signs of childhood polio paralysis now searches for suspicious coughs and fevers that could signal coronavirus infection.

Pakistan's internationally funded polio eradication programme has swung behind the country's efforts to tackle the pandemic.
Earlier this month, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) announced it would halt vaccination operations to stop door-to-door teams spreading the new illness, and instead dedicate staff and resources to tackling the pandemic.

The programme has for years received huge international investment and interest. Despite struggling to finally stamp out poliovirus, it is considered one of the best organised and most accountable parts of Pakistan's health infrastructure.

The poliovirus eradication campaign call centre in Islamabad


The poliovirus eradication campaign call centre in Islamabad receives as many as 70,000 calls a day as staff instead hand out advice and information about Covid-19
But its re-tasking also means the country is bracing for a spike in polio cases later in the year, following a disappointing 18 months which had seen the campaign stumble while apparently on the brink of success.

Global health chiefs hope the programme's surveillance network, communications experts and army of community workers can bring much needed rigour, energy and expertise.

So far the country has had surprisingly few cases, but in a nation of 220 million where the healthcare system is patchy or beyond reach for many, and cities are packed, the prospects of a runaway outbreak are grim

Dr Mike Ryan, the World Health Organization's top emergencies expert, himself spent nearly three years on the polio programme in Pakistan.
“Pakistan continues to carry out good surveillance and has had one of the most effective surveillance systems for polio in the world,” he said last week. “And not only a surveillance system for the virus but has been doing extremely good environmental surveillance and other surveillance for polio viruses over a large number of years.”
The call centre has been boosted from 55 staff to more than 250. The network of 20,000 full time front line community workers is being used for community surveillance, spotting those with respiratory problems and encouraging them to take tests. Communications teams used to countering polio misinformation are switching their focus to Covid-19.

“There has been a lot of investment made in the polio programme and it's good to use existing programmes and not duplicate, said Dr Mishal Khan, an associate professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

“Ideally if there is more money coming, the same programmes are strengthened.” But she warned the polio programme existed in its own isolated silo from the rest of the healthcare system and could be difficult to integrate.

“If Covid ends up being not as widespread and as bad as we fear in Pakistan, we don't also want to end up in a situation where we have dismantled some other critical health programmes and you have saved yourself the worst of Covid, but are having a resurgence in say vaccine preventable deaths,” she said.
International officials admit that the pivot to Covid-19 is very likely to produce an increase in cases of polio. The World Health Organization's Michel Zaffran, who heads GPEI, said in early April that he was “devastated” to have to stop polio operations.

Health workers in Pakistan expect that change of focus to last at least six months. When the GPEI announced the switch it said it would monitor the situation to “be prepared to fire up campaigns as soon as safely possible”.

Right now ,Only Pakistan and couple of other dirt poor African countries have polio cases in the world.

This statement alone proves the status of naya Pakistan. :rofl:


Since the abodabad raid,radical islamists double down on the anti vaccination campaign in Pakistan. It got so bad,health workers got shot,raped and bludgeoned in many parts of their country.


In addition to their woes, because of covid scare,whatever left of their ailing polio infrastructure might have been directed to covid screening,so the title is apt as this leaves fertile grounds for polio to thrive.
 
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Pakistani doctors launch hunger strike over virus protection fears
Health workers have complained for weeks that the country's hospitals are suffering chronic shortages of safety gear, prompting the arrest of more than 50 doctors who called for more supplies in the city of Quetta earlier this month.

AFP|
Last Updated: Apr 25, 20 ..

Read more at:
https://economictimes.indiatimes.co...ofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
 

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Coronavirus in Pakistan: Mosques becoming major source of transmission, warns PIMA

Pakistan's top Islamic medical body has warned that mosques are becoming a major source of transmission for the novel coronavirus and urged people to pray at home during Ramzan, as the COVID-19 cases in the country rose to 13,105 on Sunday. "Mosques are becoming a major source of virus transmission," Pakistan Islamic Medical Association (PIMA) President Dr Iftikhar Burney said on Saturday. Talking to reporters, Burney said that the infected cases have surged rapidly during the past week.

"Around 6,000 cases for coronavirus surfaced in a month.but the same has doubled in the last six days," he said, warning that the infection would further go up in the coming months of May and June. He said the number of patients in the intensive care units (ICUs) of the public hospitals is increasing at a shocking rate. "Most of the hospitals in the country are housing more coronavirus patients that those suffering from other diseases," he told reporters.

His remarks comes days after Pakistan's top doctors warned of "significant mayhem" and "fatal outcomes" if mosques continue to remain open and urged the government to review its decision to allow congregational prayers during the month of Ramzan amid the deadly coronavirus outbreak.

The Pakistan government early this month succumbed to pressure from the hardline clerics and allowed conditional congregational prayers in mosques during Ramzan. However, the 20-point agreement signed by the leading clerics with President Arif Alvi on restricting access to mosques during Ramzan was not being followed completely.

Alvi has written a letter to the Imams of mosques urging them to ask worshippers above the age of 50 to pray at home. He pointed out that the point number six of the standard operating procedures (SOPs) set in the agreement said that persons over the age of 50 should avoid offering prayers at the mosque.


Alvi also visited mosques in Rawalpindi to review arrangements made by the administration of mosques to contain the spread of the virus, he wrote in a tweet. He shared a picture of Jama Masjid Ghousia and said the administration had arranged for Taraweeh (special prayers offered at night during Ramzan), keeping in mind necessary preventative measures to curb the spread. However, the face masks were lacking.

Several countries including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Algeria, Jordan, Kuwait, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt have stopped congregational prayers in mosques. In several Arab countries, the 'azaan' (call for prayer) has been amended and now it urges people to pray in their homes.

Advisor on Health Dr Zafar Mirza also took to Twitter and again urged the "citizens to demonstrate responsibility & avoid congregations during Ramzan to protect themselves from COVID-19." However, the government was still reluctant to close down the mosques due to fear of backlash by the hardline clerics.

 

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Two new cases of polio virus reported in KP

by Staff Report , (Last Updated 5 hours ago)




PESHAWAR: Two fresh cases of polio Type-2 were reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) on Monday.
According to the polio Emergency Operation Centre (EOC), the cases emerged from Peshawar and South Waziristan, raising the provincial tally of Type-2 cases to 38 for the current year.
“The number of children infected with Type-2 polio has risen to 42 across the country,” the EOC said.
In March, the provincial health department postponed an anti-polio campaign due to the spread of the coronavirus.

The campaign in five districts of KP, including Charsadda, Mardan, Nowshera, Swabi and Mohmand would have targeted over 13 million children under the age of five.
The health department postponed the polio campaign until after the coronavirus is contained.
Polio is a highly infectious disease mainly affecting children under the age of five. It invades the nervous system and causes paralysis or even death.

While there is no cure for polio, vaccination is the most effective way to protect children from this crippling disease. Each time a child under the age of five is vaccinated, their protection against the virus is increased.




 

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Three more PIA crew members test positive for coronavirus
Salah Uddin On Apr 27, 2020 Last updated Apr 27, 2020


ISLAMABAD: Three more crew members of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) have been diagnosed as positive for the novel coronavirus that has so far killed 281 people and affected over 13,320 across the country, ARY News reported.

The affected flight attendants were put into quarantine in a local hotel in Islamabad for two days upon return from Manchester on board a repatriation flight. During this period, they took a test for the virus, which turned out to be positive.
A spokesperson for the national flag carrier confirmed the news saying they were shifted to a hospital for treatment.



 

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