Call for awareness via ‘social media weapons’

President Dr Arif Alvi has emphasised the need to prevent the novel coronavirus, which causes the Covid-19 disease, from spreading, through national awareness and strict compliance with “simple measures by all of us”.
“It is not a political issue but a national one. The war hero’s role is yours through your weapons of social media and your phone messages. Don’t stop until we have won,” he tweeted on Saturday.
In another tweet, he advised people to wash hands with soap for at least 20 seconds, use tissue or sleeves when coughing or sneezing, decline to shake hands and embrace, maintain “social distance”, avoid crowded places, and not touch one’s face.
Meanwhile, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan said that Prime Minister Imran Khan is personally supervising steps to overcome the threat of the coronavirus in the country.
In a series of tweets, she said that the government had taken measures to cope with the international challenge of the coronavirus for the protection of the people of Pakistan.
Awan said that these measures have been acknowledged by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and endorsed by its country representative.
The adviser said that she hopes the virus would be defeated with national harmony and solidarity.
“It is a difficult time, but the nation will come out of it successfully,” Awan said.
She also urged people to follow precautionary measures as adopted by nations that are economically-developed and medically-advanced.
Meanwhile, in Punjab the provincial government has converted the hostels all public sector universities into quarantine centres as an immediate arrangement for likely coronavirus patients, as health authorities confirmed the first Covid-19 case in the Punjab capital Lahore.
A 54-year-old patient was admitted into Lahore’s Mayo Hospital on Saturday night, having returned from the UK on March 10.
A senior Higher Education Department (HED) official said that hostels are being vacated and cleaned as a precautionary measure to turn rooms into quarantine centres.
Health authorities say that all contacts of the patient have tested negative for the virus.
The Punjab Higher Education Commission (HED) issued directions to all the public sector universities to immediately vacate male and female hostels in their campuses.
If any student intends to leave his belongings, these must be stored in separate storerooms under the supervision of respective hostel wardens, and the student be provided with a token of slip, so that he or she can claim the belongings once the hostels reopen.
According to a notification, the provincial chief secretary had called an urgent meeting and directed the administrations of all public sector universities to vacate hostels.
It further asked them not to engage teaching staff in academic work till April 5, and only engage non-teaching administrative staff if absolutely necessary.
“It is advised that only skeleton staff in the vice-chancellor and registrar offices, plus hostel wardens may only be engaged,” reads the directive.
The government has already converted the New Campus of the Ghazi University, Dera Ghazi Khan, into a quarantine area to accommodate 1,740 people in 130 rooms.
A senior official said that the authorities are taking precautionary measures to tackle the pandemic in case it spread in the densely-populated province of the country.
He said the government did not want to make quarantine centres in hospitals in view of health of other patients.
Punjab University Vice-Chancellor Dr Niaz Ahmed Akhtar confirmed the creation of a quarantine zone for 3,000 people in the institution’s hostels and institute of molecular biology building.
He said that the university had received request from the Gilgit-Baltistan government to allow students from the province to continue staying in their hostels.
He said special measures are also being taken for foreign students studying in the university.
In Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), the local government has enforced a health emergency for three weeks.
According to a notification issued by health department, the AJK president has approved temporary rules and regulations to be enforced immediately, with a possible extension after three weeks, under sub sections 1 and 2 of section 2 of the Pandemic Diseases Control Act 1891.
Under the rules, all individuals entering to Pakistan-administered Kashmir would have to furnish their one-month travel history at entry points, and if any health official suspects any person of being infected with the coronavirus, the official will immediately inform the deputy commissioner of the district.
All the people having travel history to countries affected with coronavirus would be kept in quarantine for two weeks, while those who are diagnosed as being infected will be treated at isolation wards.
The government has been empowered to ban gatherings at the public places, and ordered all educational institutions to remain closed until April 5.
No positive case of the coronavirus has been reported in AJK so for, but four people who have been in badly-hit Iran have been quarantined.
The health department has established quarantine centres at three divisional headquarters, including capital Muzaffarabad, where the newly-constructed Prime Minister’s House building has been converted into a quarantine centre.
Homeless people residing in homeless shelters, also known as panah gahs, who may be at risk of contracting Covid-19, are being educated about the virus.
The government of Pakistan has issued health advisory for safety of the residents and beneficiaries of shelter homes set up across the country.
The health advisory containing precautionary measures has been forwarded to volunteers and service providers of panah gahs to ensure safety of its dwellers and those who are visiting its food centres, the Prime Minister’s Focal Person on Shelter Homes Naseemur Rehman said during his visit to the G-9 facility.
He told Internews that the administrations of the shelter homes had also been provided audio clips containing information about safety measures against the virus so that they could forward it to every dweller.
The beneficiaries have been advised to avoid physical contact and keep at least a distance of three feet from each other, wash their hands properly with, soap and abstain from touching doorknobs unnecessarily, he said.
He said a team of 11 people, comprising locals and volunteers, had been formed to handle day-to-day affairs of each shelter home.
The initiative is also aimed at getting input from its dwellers to ensure improved services there, he added.
Rehman said the teams are paying regular visits to get first-hand information about issues being faced by people at panah gahs.
Health awareness sessions are also being conducted to sensitise the dwellers about personal hygiene, he added.
To a question, he said 50 shelter homes had been set up across the country to provide accommodation and food to homeless and needy people.
As many as 40 panah gahs are fully functional in six major cities of the country, with 10 near-completion and soon to start operations.
The shelter homes are operating in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Peshawar, Faisalabad, and Sialkot, he added.
Rehman said the shelter homes serve more than 3,200 people in the federal capital daily, providing breakfast to 669 people, lunch to 1,036, and dinner to 1,501.
Around 430 people are staying at these shelters, he added.