Slow reopening from today amid calls for national unity.

ISLAMABAD -- Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar on Sunday expressed confidence that the decision to ease lockdown in phased manner will be implemented in consultation with all the stakeholders.

While addressing a news conference, he said the decision was taken in consultation with all the federating units. He said big policy-level decisions were taken and now it is time for their implementation.

The Minister expressed satisfaction that the people have acted with responsibility but now they need to more strictly follow the precautionary measures after the easing of restrictions to avoid spread of the virus.

He said the decision of easing restrictions was taken to provide livelihoods to the people as they cannot be kept away from business for long time.

Asad Umar said the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) had been working March 31, without any break to take the timely decisions and actions to address the situation arising out of coronavirus. He said the testing capacity was being enhanced considerably and added that 13500 tests were carried out on Saturday (May 9, 2020).

He said there are now 70 labs fully equipped to carry out coronavirus

tests. Currently there are 85 people on the ventilators and 165 on oxygen, he told reporters. The Minister said a system is being developed in order to ensure efficient response in case the coronavirus cases spike in the coming days. He expressed satisfaction that the trajectory of coronavirus cases is not as serious as was witnessed in some other countries. He, however, said that the country was preparing for the worst situation. A portal will soon be made operational to update record of hospitals and patients, he said.

The Minister said that smart lockdown is being enforced only in hotspot areas. Currently, the smart lockdown is in place in 359 areas of Punjab and 177 areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He said the authorities were also engaging with the rural support programs not only to create awareness amongst the rural population about the contagion but also to provide relief to the deserving families.

Asad Umar urged upon every individual to take responsibility of adopting precautionary measures issued by the government and health departments to control the coronavirus. 'Apart from all efforts of health teams, administration and use of technology to contain the disease, the most powerful activist is every individual who has the responsible to not only save himself but to save the...