Pakistan Army on Monday said in view of the deteriorating situation of Covid-19 pandemic, Pakistan Army will use all its capabilities to take all possible steps for the health of the people and ensure their safety by reaching out to every corner of the country.
Addressing a news conference Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Babar Iftikhar said the Pakistan Army was called upon to assist the civil administration across the country under Article 245, in accordance with the orders of the federal government for the protection of the people and public health. “The trust of the nation is the asset of the armed forces,” he remarked.
The ISPR DG said the Pakistan Army has decided not to claim any internal security allowance during its deployment to assist the civil administration in the implementation of Covid-19 SOPs across the country. He said the civil administration is primarily responsible for enforcing the standard operating procedures or safety measures against the Covid-19, and maintaining law and order. “The Pakistan Army will provide full support to other law enforcement agencies as an emergency responder,” he added.
The ISPR DG said the third wave of coronavirus is currently surging in the country, which is proving far more dangerous and deadly than the first two waves. “The whole world, and especially our region, is being hit hard by this contagion,” he said. Mortality, he said, is on the rise due to the severity and rapid spread of the epidemic. “The huge increase in the number of critical care patients is putting increasing pressure on the healthcare system,” he added.
He said the health sector has been currently allocated more than 75 per cent of the country’s total oxygen production. “If the current coronavirus situation persists, the oxygen allocated to the industrial sector may have to be dedicated to the health sector,” he added.
“The COVID positivity ratio has risen to dangerous levels. It is more than 5% in 51 cities across the country,” he underscored. Except Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), he said, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Peshawar, Mardan, Nowshera, Charsadda and Swabi were among the major cities with higher positivity ratio. Similarly, in Punjab, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan, Bahawalpur, Gujranwala, Karachi and Hyderabad in Sindh, Quetta in Balochistan and Muzaffarabad in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) in particular have been severely affected by the pandemic as the positivity ratio is increasing in these areas, he added.
The enhanced deployment of Pakistan Army has been made in the above mentioned 16 cities, he added.
He said teams have been constituted which would be led by brigadiers at the administrative division level and by lieutenant colonels at the district level. The army troops, he said, have reached at district level across the country since 6 am Monday to assist the civil administration. The provincial apex committees would hold weekly meetings to discuss the overall situation and analyse areas with high positivity rates after which a plan of action would be decided, he added.
“The monthly average of deaths has been the highest in April. The worldwide fatality rate is 2.12% while the fatality rate in Pakistan has risen over the world fatality rate for the first time during this pandemic to 2.16%,” he said. The implementation of precautionary measures was an effective response to the pandemic stemming its outrageous spread, he said. “We must all work together individually and collectively to ensure the health and safety of the people,” he said. “We can be safe from this contagion only by following the safety guidelines regarding the use of face mask and social distancing,” he said. “The blessed month of Ramazan teaches us compassion and discipline. We can remedy each other’s problems by ensuring safety measures in homes, mosques and all other places,” he added.
The DG ISPR said the cooperation and sense of responsibility of the people since the beginning of the pandemic had protected the nation from its most dangerous harms as compared to other countries and still as a nation “we have to show more caution and responsibility than ever before”. He urged the masses to show compassion towards the people around them during the month of Ramazan.
He concluded the talk praying to The Almighty to protect everyone from the pandemic. “May Allah Almighty grant success to all those who are engaged in saving the lives of others without caring for their own lives. Ameen.”
