Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday urged the nation to follow the coronavirus-related standard operating procedures (SOPs), saying authorities have observed that infections in Pakistan quadrupled over the past 10 days.
Addressing the nation following a meeting of the National Coordination Committee (NCC) on the COVID-19 coronavirus, PM Imran Khan said: “We reviewed the rising cases of the COVID-19 and the second wave — which is being experienced in the entire world, especially Europe and America, where cases are rising rapidly and even more than there were before.
“In America, the coronavirus cases have risen beyond the first peak and we see the same in England. They have started lockdowns; just like they shut down their countries earlier, they’ve gone towards the lockdowns again.
“We were observing how many cases were there in the provinces. So, first off, I wish to tell you that God was especially benevolent towards us. We are a very lucky nation — see our neighbours Iran and India — so God was especially kind to Pakistan, we were saved from the havoc the coronavirus wreaked in the rest of the world and in our neighbouring countries.
“We are thankful to God that our country was saved from the coronavirus deaths, and secondly, we also saved our economy from destruction, as compared to what’s happening in the other nations.
“However, our service sector sustained a lot of damage — for example, tourism, marriage halls, and restaurants — this is quite a large sector and it was hit significantly when we shut down our economy. Despite that, Pakistan — as opposed to the rest of the countries — performed way better during the first wave,” the premier noted.
