RAWALPINDI: Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan on Saturday said the government would bring back 4,000 Pakistanis stranded across the world following Covid-19outbreak through special flights.

He said special flights will be operated from April 11 to April 19 to bring back the stranded Pakistanis, adding that 2,000 had returned whounderwent free of cost tests and were lodged in quarantine centres for 14 days.

“The provincial governments of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh have been asked to complete arrangements to quarantine the returning Pakistanis just like the federal government had done at Islamabad International Airport,” the minister told media.

Mr Khan said airports in Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar would be opened after completing the arrangements for the special flights. He said the provincial governments had started establishing quarantines near their airports.

He said the decision on Haj was pending. There are 20,000 Pakistanis in the United Arab Emirates while still many Pakistanis are in Iran and Saudi Arabia who will also be brought back.

Minister says Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh have been asked to open airports for special flights, set up quarantine centres

Accompanied by members of Provincial Assembly Haji Amjad and Wasiq Qayyum, the minister said the Rawalpindi administration was working to control dengue and coronavirus. He said a proper plan would be chalked out to minimise problems of citizens by ensuring government subsidy reached the common man.

To a question, Mr Khan said there was no shortage of basic necessities anywhere in the country, including Rawalpindi.

“Ehsas programme will be fully functional from Monday,” he said. Counters for distributing cash among deserving families would be established at two to three places in every union council.

He said the government was going to open the construction industry from April 14 after which work on development projects would start.

Six more test positive

Six more patients tested positive in Rawalpindi on Saturday taking the tally to 109. One patient was discharged after recovering from the virus.

During the last two weeks, 124 confirmed patients reported at the Rawalpindi Institute of Urology (RIU) and other hospitals. Among them, 11 recovered and four died.

In the four districts of Rawalpindi Division, 204 people tested positive, 30 were discharged and six died of the virus.

The local administrations has also kept 719 people in quarantines in three districts - Rawalpindi 455, Attock 19 and Jhelum 245. Besides, 458 people have been isolated in their houses - 412 in Rawalpindi, 10 in Attock and 36 in Jhelum.

A senior official of the divisional administration said 71 suspected patients were admitted in Rawalpindi, 17 in Jhelum and three in Chakwal.

He said samples of 527 Tableeghi Jamaat members had also been sent to National Institute of Health (NIH) out of whom 247 tested negative, 49 positive while reports of 87 were awaited.

Meanwhile, in-charge Coronavirus Monitoring Programme for Rawalpindi Division and Punjab Minister for Literacy and Informal Education Raja Rashid Hafeez said the government could provide treatment to over 50,000 patients of coronavirus.

However, he said despite the awareness campaign people in some cities were not taking the issue seriously.

He stated this during a meeting held at the deputy commissioner office to review arrangements for the provision of health facilities.

Deputy Commissioner retired Capt Anwarul Haq, MNA Sheikh Rashid Shafiq, MPAs Chaudhry Adnan, Litasab Satti, Ejaz Khan Jazi, Chaudhry Javed Kausar, Farah Agha, Nasreen Tariq, Abida Bibi and senior officials attended.

The minister said the government was working to distribute cash among people rendered jobless due to the lockdown.

The DC said distribution of rations and cash among the deserving people was underway. “Cash is being distributed at 29 centres in Rawalpindi.”

He said 18,564 families had been provided Rs12,000 each. The Rawalpindi district has the facility of quarantining 255 people.

MPA Chaudhry Adnan announced to set up a 200-bed quarantine centre in his market next week.

Published in Dawn, April 12th, 2020