ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on National Health Services Dr Zafar Mirza on Wednesday said every cough and flu should not be mistaken as coronavirus.
“The situation is not that serious to close down the educational institutions in the federal capital,” he said while talking to the media in Rawalpindi.
“We did not recommend shutting down schools. It is a decision taken exclusively by the provincial governments. We did not close schools in Islamabad and its adjacent areas,” Dr Zafar Mirza said.
The special assistant on health said the federal and provincial governments were working in cohesion to contain the coronavirus.
He said it was because of efforts of the government that the virus had not spread in Pakistan the way it hit some other countries. He said the people should take necessary precautionary measures to stay safe.
To a query about concealing of the number of people affected from the infection, he said, “It was 200 percent wrong. There is no need to panic.”
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On safety of Pakistani students in China, Dr Zafar Mirza said, “We are in constant touch with our students in China and they are being fully taken care of with the help of the Chinese authorities.”
To a query, he said a national program had been prepared to tackle dengue the following year through a standardized approach.
Earlier addressing a conference, the special assistant on national health services said the government’s health reforms agenda was aimed at achieving the universal health coverage.
He said the primary healthcare services were being strengthened to realize this vision.
The PM’s special assistant said that a program titled Yaran-e-Waton was also being launched to enable Pakistani doctors serving abroad to make their contributions in bringing improvement in the country’s healthcare system.
