While the countrywide tally of coronavirus cases has more than doubled in less than two weeks, Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar has said the pandemic could also result in closure of up to one million institutions, rendering 18 million people jobless and pushing up to 70m others below the poverty line in Pakistan.

The federal minister was quoting the figures predicted by different organisations and think tanks, during a media briefing held at the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Covid-19.

The only option, for damage control, was to relax the restrictions/ lockdown, Umar said, adding that the government would decide the fate of the restrictions in a meeting of the National Coordination Committee on Covid-19 scheduled for May 9.

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