Coronavirus testing capacity stands at 20,000 per day: Qureshi.

ISLAMABAD -- Minister for Foreign Affairs Shah Mehmood Qureshi Monday said Pakistan's capacity for the coronavirus tests stood at 20,000 per day while the number of testing laboratories had been increased from 8 to 70.

Opening the debate in the National Assembly on the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on the national economy, he said in total 283,000 tests had been conducted in Pakistan but the number was still low in proportion to the population.

Pakistan's testing capacity, he said, was the highest among the South Asian countries.

The minister said the Parliament had to play its vital role in the present crisis as was done in parliamentary democracies. It should give its input to implement the national strategy on COVID-19, he added.

He noted that the challenge of coronavirus was unprecedented for Pakistan and the world.

The world would get rid of coronavirus when its cure or vaccine would be found in the next 18 to 20 months, while it was now trying to contain the disease.

Qureshi said four million people were affected by the virus in 209 countries and 280,700 people died because of the disease.

He said no government in the world, even those of the most developed countries, was prepared to tackle the pandemic when it struck. Tens of thousands of people had died due to the disease in the United States, Italy, Spain, France and the United Kingdom, he added.

The minister said more than 660 people died in Pakistan, which had very fragile health facilities. As of May 10, 29,000 people got infected while more than 8,000 recovered from the disease in the country, he added.

Qureshi recalled that when the first case of coronavirus was diagnosed in Karachi on February 26, the testing capacity of the country was for 100 tests per day.

He pointed out that the subject of health was devolved to the provinces in 2010 and since then for a decade the Pakistan Peoples Party had been in power in Sindh and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz in Punjab.

The minister said the number of deaths in Pakistan were low as compared to the world average while the infection rate was also low against the predictions.

He said when the pandemic started the National Coordination Committee, and the National Command and Operation Center immediately started meetings, received input from all the provinces and took collective decisions.

As compared to other countries, Pakistan swiftly responded to the threat of coronavirus and the National Security Committee took unanimous...

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