Planning Minister Asad Umar has declared that Pakistan will "not blindly follow Western countries" while briefing the parliament on the government's strategy to cope with the ongoing health crisis.

He said that Pakistan had the best doctors and specialists who were advising the government. Umar told the National Assembly that the country's testing capacity had increased over the past months and in the past 24 hours, more than 13,000 tests had been conducted. Initially, he informed the parliament, only two labs in the country that can conduct tests but now there were 70 testing labs.

The planning minister once again urged citizens to take precautions in order to curb the spread.