Bill Gates praises PM Imran Khan's smart lockdown in tackling Covid-19

ISLAMABAD (Web Desk) - Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates has praised the smart lockdown strategy of Prime Minister Imran Khan which implemented in Pakistan to tackle coronavirus (COVID-19). In an interview with CNN, the Microsoft founder lauded Pakistan’s efforts in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. He compared the coronavirus situation in Pakistan with Europe and acknowledged Pakistan’s flattened COVID-19 curve. "The coronavirus situation in Pakistan was like Europe, but they worked hard to bring virus cases down," said Bill Gates in an interview. Gates endorsed Pakistan’s COVID-19 policies and said India by contrast, doesn’t look great. “The Covid-19 situation in Indian is similar to that of South America.” It is worth mentioning here that COVID-19 cases have witnessed a massive decline in Pakistan in recent days and the government today has lifted almost all restrictions. Following the announcement of lifting lockdown by the federal government, the shopping malls, restaurants, hotels, gyms, theatres, cinema halls, beauty parlors across the country have been reopened from today with the implementation of SOPs. The Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department issued a notification following the decisions made in the August 6 meeting of the National Coordination Committee wherein it was decided to lift the restrictions on all sectors on August 10 and resume educational activities from Sept 15. On the other hand, Pakistan has reported 15 deaths in last 24 hours by novel coronavirus as the number of positive cases has surged to 284,660 as nationwide tally of fatalities has jumped to 6,097. According to the latest figures by the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) 539 persons have been tested positive for COVID-19 in 24 hours. The total number of recovered coronavirus patients in the country has reached 260,764 making it a significant count. There are now 17,799 active cases in Pakistan.