CHAGAI / QUETTA: Spe­cial Assistant to the Prime Minister on National Health Services Dr Zafar Mirza said on Thursday that effective measures were being taken to deal with novel coronavirus in Pakistan.

He was talking to journalists during his visit to the Taftan border where he along with federal health secretary Dr Allah Bakhsh Malik and provincial ministers Zahoor Buledi and Mir Mohammad Arif Mohammad Hassani inspected arrangements made at Pakistan House and the Federal Investigation Agency’s immigration office in connection with containing the spread of the virus.

Dr Mirza urged people not to get panicked after detection of some coronavirus cases in Pakistan.

He said the government was committed to stopping the spread of coronavirus in the country, adding that the Pak-Iran border had been closed and pilgrims who came from Iran were quarantined at the border after the screening process in Taftan, a border town in Chagai district.

Dr Mirza pointed out that there was a need for further improvement in protective and precautionary measures.

He said that screening at all airports and entry points at land routes were being carried out and separate wards had been set up in hospitals across the country to stop the spread of coronavirus in the country. He said a helpline number (1166) had also made for emergency situations concerning coronavirus.

When asked about the fate of Pakistani pilgrims stranded in Iran, Dr Mirza said majority of these pilgrims had visited coronavirus-hit Iranian city of Qom, therefore, they would be kept under strict observations for a required period after their arrival at Taftan border.

Earlier, Dr Mirza was briefed by Deputy Commissioner of Chagai Agha Sher Zaman and officials concerned on protective and precautionary measures being taken in Taftan.

Published in Dawn, February 28th, 2020