Federal Minister for Information Shibli Faraz on Wednesday said that the intensity of coronavirus in the country is witnessing an increase as number of cases and death toll rises.

“Government has reviewed the situation on daily basis and lifted restrictions on movement in order to minimize its negative impact on lower segment of the society,” he said while addressing a presser.

He lamented that majority of the people have not implemented on the standard operating procedures (SOPs) devised from the government and warned that if not implemented it could increase the intensity of coronavirus.

The information minister said that even the established global economies were unable to deal with the pandemic as virus does not discriminate between anyone.

“Even in Pakistan it has affected lawmakers and some of them even died of it,” he said while extending his condolence over the deaths.

He appealed to the masses that it is high time for them to implement upon the SOPs.

“If not implemented properly, the government will be forced to implement a stricter lockdown,” he warned while adding that number of virus cases and deaths of it are still below the government’s estimates.

Speaking on locusts’ issue, Shibli Faraz said that the government was involved in dealing with locusts attacks in parts of the country and termed it a grave danger for agriculture sector.

“We have conducted spray in areas where it attacked harvest,” he said while detailing government efforts to counter it.

Lamenting Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif, he said that the opposition leader in National Assembly ran away when NAB tried to arrest him and later emerged from a Lahore court to seek pre-arrest bail.

“We are mulling over to place Shehbaz Sharif’s name on ECL,” he said and further asked the opposition leader as to why he refrained from joining National Assembly session out of coronavirus fear while asking his party lawmakers to attend it.

He said that there is no future for Shehbaz Sharif and people of his likes in politics as they only want to hinder the accountability process in the country.

“Whenever these people are out of power they run away from the country,” he said.