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Govt pursuing holistic strategy to combat coronavirus: Dr Zafar Mirza

Govt pursuing holistic strategy to combat coronavirus: Dr Zafar Mirza
June 10, 2020
ISLAMABAD (92 News) – Special Assistant on National Health Services Dr Zafar Mirza says the government is pursuing a holistic strategy to combat coronavirus. In a statement on Wednesday with reference to the WHO letter, he said they had made the best sovereign decisions in the best interest of the people. "We have to make a tough policy to strike a balance between lives and livelihood." Zafar Mirza said that Pakistan has consciously but gradually eased generalized lockdowns but at the same time it has focused on enforcement of SOPs in shops, industries, mosques and public transport etc. "Mask donning has been made compulsory in the country. Along with this, we have developed a robust tracing, testing and quarantine policy to identify hot spots and cordon off them. Currently there are more than seven hundred such smart lockdowns in place," he added. The special assistant said that other plank of the strategy is ramping up of the health system to cater to the growing number of patients. Zafar Mirza said that choice of policies has been guided by the best evidence available about the disease spread and the best assessment of the fast deteriorating socio-economic conditions in the country. He said that Pakistan appreciates its longstanding partnership with the WHO in health including in this pandemic. He said theirs is the health lens whereas governments have to take into account a holistic picture and make decisions on relative risk assessment basis.