ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry on Tuesday suggested that a parliamentary committee be constituted to look into the issues of Pakistanis who have been stuck in China due to novel coronavirus (NCV).

“So far 21,653 persons have been infected with the virus and 23,000 are under observation. Our children and people are not orphans, so we should decide whether we want to keep them in China or want to bring them to Pakistan,” he said while speaking on the floor of the National Assembly.

Mr Chaudhry said the proposed parliamentary committee should take decision about the Pakistanis facing issues in China due to NCV outbreak. “The world can be destroyed if some other planet hits the planet Earth. Moreover, an outbreak of a disease can also make the earth barren. I suggest that the parliamentary committee should discuss the issue and it should take the decision about Pakistanis after detailed deliberations,” he said.

Another flight carrying 122 people, including 31 Chinese nationals, lands at Islamabad airport

National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser decided to get a policy statement from the government before forming the parliamentary committee.

Meanwhile, another flight from China carrying 122 people, including 31 Chinese, landed at Islamabad International Airport on Tuesday. One of the Chinese passengers who had slight fever was shifted to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS).

An immigration official said the Chinese traveller complained about breathing problem and was shifted to the isolation ward of PIMS hospital. He said the passenger had suffered from fever during the flight.

When contacted, spokesman for PIMS Dr Wasim Khawaja confirmed that a patient from Islamabad airport had been shifted to the hospital where he was kept under observation. “The patient is being examined by a team of doctors who will decide whether he should be admitted or not.”

He said a team of the National Institute of Health reached the hospital and collected samples to ascertain if the patient was infected with NCV.

Meanwhile, Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho informed a meeting of the provincial cabinet presided over by Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah that a flight with 300 Chinese nationals onboard had landed at Karachi’s Jinnah Terminal on Monday night. The doctors and ambulances were made available at the airport.

She said the Chinese authorities had first checked the passengers and then allowed them to board the flight to Karachi. Health department doctors also checked the Chinese and cleared them to land.

Dr Pechuho said a 10-year-old Chinese boy had run away from the airport but was caught hold of and shifted to the Gambat Institute of Health Sciences.

Moreover, Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid said the government was fully cognizant of the threat of coronavirus and made necessary preparations.

Talking to journalists at the Directorate General Public Relations in Lahore, she said so far no confirmed case of the virus had been reported in Pakistan, adding that prevention and awareness were the key to controlling the disease.

The minister said coronavirus was genetically similar to SARS virus reported nearly a decade back. “The virus causes symptoms of fever with difficulty in breathing leading to pneumonia and the federal government has developed SOPs and Punjab is fully implementing them,” she said.

Dr Rashid said total seven suspected cases were reported out of which four patients had been discharged and three are under treatment.

In Multan, two suspected patients of NCV, including a Chinese, who were admitted to Nishtar Hospital some one week ago, have been discharged after reports confirmed that both were not infected with the deadly virus.

On other hand, another suspected patient has been admitted to the hospital. Associate Professor Abid of Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif University of Agriculture was admitted to the hospital soon after he returned to Multan from China after spending two months there.

Mr Abid returned on Jan 10 and suffered from flue, sore throat and fever in the beginning of February. His family brought him to Nishtar Hospital on Monday night and he was shifted to the hospital’s isolation ward.

According to health department officials, the screening of all family members of Mr Abid was conducted and none of them was having any symptom of the disease.

Published in Dawn, February 5th, 2020