Islamabad: The federal government is ramping up its COVID-19 testing capacity, along with improving methods to identify pandemic hotspots, throughout the country — with the initiative geared towards implementing what it terms to be a ‘smart lockdown’, a news source reported.
As per the publication, the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on National Security Dr Moeed Yusuf said on Sunday that once the government managed to enhance its testing capacity, it would be possible to trace asymptomatic patients that did not as yet show any visible signs of being affected. In addition, Yusuf said that frequent testing would also help the government identify various affected hotspots around the country, and that subsequently, only areas with large number of cases would be put under lockdown.
The SAPM also informed that the government was planning to bring back the Pakistanis stranded abroad due to the restrictions put in place across various countries because of the coronavirus pandemic. He added that the government would also permit the people stuck in countries in which the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) does not currently operate in, to be retrieved by private airlines instead.
