PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has called upon the federal government to take extreme measures for containment of the coronavirus pandemic.

Addressing a news conference in Karachi on Thursday, Bilawal said “The Centre should take harsh steps if it wants to fight off this disease. Go for lockdowns or isolations, do the mass testing of the suspects, spend heavily to save the economy and to save the people.”

He said they demanded of the federal government to ease toward the lockdown of affected areas.

Bilawal said this is no time to do politics or criticize the government. “This is a crisis time. We should all unite against this pandemic,” he added.

The PPP Chairman said that it was high time to shun all political differences and work together to counter the novel COVID-19 pandemic.

Two-tier strategy needed

The PPP Chairman chalked out a two-tier strategy to prevent further loss of lives and business in the face of the existing economic slowdown. Firstly people’s lives are important and secondly, measures are needed to tackle a further slide in the economy, he added.

He termed the recent cut in interest rate ‘inadequate’ and demanded more drastic actions and concrete steps to stabilize the economy.

It is more important to mitigate people’s sufferings because of the pressure on the medical facilities across the country, he said and added: “We should set up more quarantine centres and field hospitals so the burden on existing hospitals would ease.”

He said PM Khan’s recent speech lacked concrete steps as per the data and challenge surfaced due to the coronavirus.

Field Hospital at Karachi Expo Centre

The Sindh government has decided to set up a big field hospital at Karachi International Expo Centre, Bilawal said.

The PPP Chairman said, “I want to send a clear message to our daily wagers that they would not be left out. We will provide the ration to them. The haves must help the Sindh government to distribute ration among the poor strata.”

Bilawal said, “I have full faith in the people of Pakistan that we will win the war against coronavirus”.  

Bilawal said: “All employers must not fire any daily wager or job person in this challenging time. If employees are not coming to the job, they must get complete salaries.”

He asked PPP MNAs and MPAs to go in their constituencies and use their influence to spread awareness about the coronavirus.  

He thanked doctors and paramedic staff for fighting at frontlines to counter the coronavirus.  

He requested the federal government to change the approach of tackling this issue.