Pakistan Is Understating Virus Infections andDeaths,Official Says:Bloomberg

[asad.kiyani]

Pakistan is understating its rate of infections and the death toll from the coronavirus, the head of a government task force said, as the country becomes a hot spot for the pandemic in South Asia.

“The actual numbers will be two to three times more than what the government is reporting,” Atta ur Rahman, chairman of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s task force on science and technology, said on the phone. A large number of cases aren’t being reported because of low testing and as reasons other than respiratory failure aren’t being counted in deaths, he said.

Pakistan’s coronavirus cases have increased manifold since the government eased a lockdown in the second week of May after a partial shutdown of about two months. Khan has said he is allowing some businesses to open as he fears people will die of poverty and hunger instead of the virus. Alarmed by the rising number of cases, the authorities have again started shutting down residential localities in 20 key cities including Lahore, the second-biggest, and Islamabad, the capital.

Pakistan is the second most infected nation in Asia after India with 154,760 cases and about 3,000 deaths. The fatality rate of 2% is less than half of the 5% global average.

“Virus testing is too low and random testing virtually doesn’t exist,” Rahman said, whose task force is advising the government on developing protective equipment. “The government data is only based on tests being carried out on those people who report symptoms.”

The nation expects infected people to rise almost eight times to 1.2 million by the end of July, according to Asad Umar, planning minister who is overseeing the nation’s coronavirus nerve center.

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[NasNY]

Pakistan reports fifth consecutive day decline in cases as COVID-19 tally reaches 165,062


By Our Correspondents
Published: June 19, 2020


ISLAMABAD / KARACHI / PESHAWAR / LAHORE / QUETTA / MUZAFFARABAD: The novel coronavirus emerged in the central China city of Wuhan towards the end of last year and proliferated to almost the whole world within a couple of months. It’s not the virulence or fatality, but the infectivity of the new virus – also known as SARS-CoV-2 – that has set off a global frenzy.
The Covid-19 respiratory illness caused by this mysterious contagion has so far infected more than 7.9 million people in 202 countries and territories of the world – and over 435,000 of them have died and counting.
Pakistan, despite its close proximity with China, remained coronavirus-free until February 26 when a young man from Karachi tested positive after returning from Iran – one of the worst-hit countries. After a brief hiatus following the first case, Covid-19 cases spiked as more pilgrims returning from Iran tested positive for the virus.
Nearly one-and-a-half months after imposing the lockdown across the country, Prime Minister Imran Khan announced to ease the lockdown in phases.
The nationwide tally of Covid-19 patients stands at 165,062 with 61,678 cases in Punjab, 62,269 in Sindh, 20,182 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 8,998 in Balochistan, 1,225 in Gilgit-Baltistan, 9,941 in Islamabad and 769 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
The virus has claimed at least 3,229 lives while around 61,383 coronavirus patients have recovered.
The situation remains fluid and we’re updating stats as soon as new figures are officially released.
Follow The Express Tribune’s live coverage of the pandemic here.


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[Nightcrawl]

Sure gtfo

 

[Ratan]

Bloomberg...lost its credibility ever since it published an article written by three known Yellow Lifafa Journalists of Pakistan origin.

 

[Galaxy]

What you expect from a Jewish owned organization.

 

[Galaxy]

They will never say or publish any thing bad about India.

 

[Masud Javed]

yes and we are fine with it!