Daily Times

Punjab Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar said on Friday that the government is gradually moving towards lockdown of the cities due to increasing threats of coronavirus (COVID 19).

Talking to a news private channel the Governor said the federal government with negations of all stakeholders will be made the final decision.

He further said this is a hard time for the whole nation, adding that all the provinces, political parties should unite their efforts to battle this common enemy, Sarwar added.

He was answering a question about the failure of the Punjab government to effectively implement the Section 144 imposed in the province. The governor was also asked about his advice to Chief Minister Usman Buzdar. His response was that the first and foremost thing was the need to conduct tests so as to identify the infected people.

Only testing and the resultant identification of patients would enable the people and government to isolate them, he noted. Sarwar added that the orders to close markets at 10pm were part of a series of steps that would continue in the near future.

The Governor also urged the citizens to assume all protective steps to defeat the coronavirus outbreak.  The new coronavirus spread to several countries across the world, jumping the death toll over 2,835 and infecting 85,000, mostly in China.