The minister, while addressing a press briefing at the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), said: “Around 4,000 people die in road accidents in the country every month, but we still allow cars on roads, because their necessity is greater than the danger of those accidents.” Asad Umar, who heads the NCOC, noted that an average of 24 people were dying every because of Covid-19 in the country every day for the last six days and if the situation carried one in a similar manner, there would be 720 deaths each month.
“If we focus on bringing Covid-19 deaths to zero, we must realise that we cope with the measures it would be needed for doing that. We will not be able to pay the economic price required to undertake these measures,” the head of NCOC said.
The federal minister also feared that around 18 million people could lose their jobs in the country because of the lockdown imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. He said that according to Pakistan Institute of Development Economics [PIDE], between 20 million and 70 million people in the country might fall below the poverty line.
Twitterati have been criticsing the ruling party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader for comparing a contagious disease with road accidents.
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