Communications Minister Murad Saeed rejected PPP chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari's assertion that the budget for the next fiscal year didn't take into account the coronavirus pandemic.

Holding a hard copy of the budget in his hand, Saeed argued on the floor of the National Assembly that given the first three pointers of the federal budget deal with Covid-19 and its fallout, the budget was, in fact, coronavirus-oriented.

"Which budget are they [PPP] referring to?" Saeed inquired, adding that whichever budget that the PPP chairperson Bilawal was referring to couldn't possibly have been a Pakistani budget.

Defending the federal government's Covid-19 response, Saeed cited India's example as a country, which couldn't curb the spread of the novel coronavirus despite "imposing a lockdown for months".

"India only had 600 cases before they imposed a lockdown. And now they are fourth highest in the world for Covid-19 cases," he said.

He said that the government wanted a "smart lockdown" from day one.

"A smart lockdown, which is imposed using a strategy of testing, tracing and quarantining (TTQ) is the solution," he said, adding that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been working on a strategy of TTQ to prevent the spread of the virus since February 28.