Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry has praised the role of the private sector in producing protective equipment for frontline workers.

"We were facing a shortage of protective equipment in Pakistan a few weeks ago, now all of Faisalabad is making protective suits for doctors and frontline workers. Now there is a need for us to consider how many of these we need, the rest we should export," Chaudhry said. He added that now that factories are producing these suits, there is a surplus and that should be dealt with smartly.

He further announced that Pakistan is now producing its own N-95 mask prototype. "While the masks being imported by Pakistan are costing Rs1,100, the ones we have created are going to cost Rs 90 — a huge difference."

He also said that Pakistan took mere weeks to produce its own coronavirus testing kits.