Coronavirus Update: Rise in interior Sindh cases

By Mukhtar Alam
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The interior districts of Sindh witnessed significant increase in COVID-19 daily infection rate on July 5, when the health authorities confirmed 2,222 new infections during the last 24 hours across the province, with 25 more relevant fatalities.

According to the health department data, as of July 5, Karachi contributed 1,030 (46%) new cases to the overall daily tally of cases, while 1,150 (57%) new cases were reported from the interior districts. 

Earlier, Karachi reported 91% of the total new infections of Sindh on June 26, against 80% new cases on June 22, which had reduced to 45% on June 25. 

According to the data, as of July 5, among the interior districts, Ghotki reported the maximum 293 COVID-19 new cases, followed by Sukkur (128), Kambar Shahdadkot (80), Shaheed Benazirabad (75) and Dadu (73). 

The breakdown of other districts who reported new cases remained as: Khairpur (61), Badin (57), Tando Mohammad Khan (54), Sanghar (51), Kashmore (50), Hyderabad (50), Larkana (48), Mirpurkhas (37), Tando Allahyar (36), Shikarpur (33), Jacobabad (15), Matiari (14), Jamshoro (11), Naushero Feroze (11), Thatta (6), Sujawal (5) and Umerkot (4). 

According to the health department’s summary, 21 patients died due to COVID-19 during the last 24 hours ending at 9 am on July 5, including 15 men and six women. Men’s ages ranged from 48 to 90 years, while that of women were from 61 to 89 years. 

Sukkur registered death of a man of 75 years and a woman of 60 years, while Sujawal and Ghotki reported demise of one man each, both aged 50 years. 

The summary further disclosed that 623 patients, out of 39,837 active cases, were in critical condition across the province. The overall tally of infections rose to 94,528 and fatalities to 1,526 for the province. 

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) Sindh sub-office COVID-19 report, testing laboratories in the province conducted 10,669 tests for the virus on July 4, against their collective capacity for examining 13,850 samples a day.

The sub-office reported that the largest number of intensive care units (ICU) beds was in Karachi (273), with 19% vacancy on July 4, against 366 ICU beds available at various health centres across the province. The percentage of patients who are on ventilators was 26% in Karachi, 8% in Sukkur and 4% in Larkana.

In regard to distribution of high dependency units (HDU) beds in districts of Sindh as of July 4, the report said that there were total 1,134 beds, out of which the biggest number of HDU beds was in Karachi (816), with 63% vacancy. Overall the HDU capacity has further increased but the newly added are not fully functional and are expected to take occupancy soon, it was noted in the report.

As of July 4, Karachi’s East district had the highest number of fatalities (396), 26 percent of the total deaths in the province, followed by Karachi Central (276), Karachi South (235), Karachi West (148), Karachi Korangi (117), Karachi Malir (91), Hyderabad (46), Larkana (28) and other districts, according to the WHO report, which covered a period from March 10 to July 4, 2020.

COVID-19 turns a blessing for food home delivery in China

By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

COVID-19 may not have entirely ruined the global economy but it has affected it badly. China, however, has witnessed rapid expansion in food delivery in its first half of 2020 as more people have opted to place online food orders amid the pandemic, according to a latest industry report.

Food delivery is estimated to account for about 20 percent of China's catering industry in 2020 so far, according to the report released by the Meituan Research Institute and the China Hospitality Association.

The report predicted that the market will continue to expand within the next three years to reach one trillion Yuan (about 142 billion U.S. dollars).

Affected by the novel coronavirus outbreak, restaurants saw fewer dine-in customers and had heavy rent and payroll burdens, revealed a survey conducted by the Meituan Research Institute.

Many restaurants turned to food delivery to increase their income and tide over difficulties. Some 55 percent of the businesses surveyed said that they planned to develop their dine-in and delivery services equally in the future.

By the end of 2019, the number of food delivery consumers in China had reached 460 million, approximately half of the country's internet users.

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto: Unmatched brilliance

By Tanzeel Rauf Farooqui
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

It goes without saying that Barrister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was a politician who was unparalleled and it can confidently be argued that no modern politician equates anywhere near to his competence or pedigree.

Born during the British Raj of India, Bhutto had seen many different aspects of life early on. He was a determined man, a few all called him stubborn, but whenever he wished to achieve something in life, he put extraordinary efforts to reach the goal. 

He went to the University of California, Berkley to attain his under graduate education and then proceeded to the prestigious University of Oxford. 

Stanley Wolpret, an English academic who wrote perhaps one of the most detailed and unbiased books on his personality titled ‘Zulfi Bhutto of Pakistan’ narrated that Bhutto was determined to achieve any goal in life and he had even challenged his interviewer at Oxford having told him that he will outperform all the British students. 

After studying at Oxford, Bhutto was trained as a barrister and was called to the prestigious Lincoln’s Inn. He always had the love for his nation at his heart and wanted to contribute in some way for his country. 

Determined, as he always was, he was able to join the cabinet of President Iskander Mirza at the young age of 30, which was indeed a stunning achievement. Recognizing his talents and capabilities, President Ayub Khan also included him in his cabinet and he was appointed as the Foreign Minister of Pakistan at the age of 35. 

God had been very kind to Bhutto as he was blessed with incredible qualities and he was able to accomplish his cherished goals at an early age. Who knew that this was all because he had been destined to a rather short life?

After forming differences with President Ayub Khan, he, along with a few of his colleagues, launched his own party, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) with a socialist manifesto with the aim to give back to the underprivileged segments of Pakistan.

Bhutto, although was a landlord himself, seemed to have compassion for the common man and he desired to bring about a change for them. An extraordinary orator that he was, he quickly appealed to the masses and already had a considerable support after his strong diplomacy skills had impressed not only the people of Pakistan but also many of the world leaders.

Stanley Wolpret recalled that once, when Bhutto had visited the United States, the President of arguably the strongest nation in the world expressed his gratitude to him and stated that if he had been an American, he would surely have been a part of his cabinet.

Bhutto, as egoistic as he always was, quickly responded that if he was an American, he would have been in the place of the President of the United States instead.

History has had its own distinctive ways to deal with world leaders, and as we witnessed, Bhutto was destined to be hanged by his own appointed Chief of Army Staff, General Zia-ul-Haq.

One could only wonder how, an incredibly stunning individual, exceptional diplomat and a sensational leader was sent to the gallows.

July 5, 1977 was the date when Bhutto’s government faced a coup from the military forces as the conditions of Pakistan, after the unfortunate fall of Dhaka, were deteriorating at a fast pace. It was perhaps his ego, which once had raised the marvelous individual quickly to the pinnacle of power in Pakistan, caused him to be hanged on April 4, 1979.

He will always be identified by history as an extraordinarily talented individual, who achieved what most people could only dream of at a very young age but perhaps could not handle all the success that had come his way far too soon.

World Bank official foresees immense potential in Pakistan's energy sector

By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

To cope with the challenge of ever sky rocketing cost of energy coupled with unstable supply, the experts have agreed that district-based generation of electricity from renewable energy sources offers more benefits to Pakistan compared to the centralized generation system of large-scale power plants scattered across the country. 

Sharing their thoughts at a webinar titled ‘Energy Investments and Planning, they were of the unanimous view that small solar and wind power plants should be installed where the potential of energy generation was high and opposed to establishing large solar parks and wind power plants. 

The World Bank Renewable Energy Consultant, Ermeena Malik, was of the opinion that under-served areas of the country should be the prime focus while setting up new renewable energy plants. 

"Pakistan has immense potential of setting up district-wise wind and solar power stations and they can generate low-cost indigenous energy," she remarked. 

She pointed out that such a network would drastically reduce transmission and distribution investment and in some cases it would completely bypass it.

"Financing for such power plants will become a huge issue in the next five to 10 years and a lot of people will be talking about it. It will be the largest roadblock, hindering the improvement of power infrastructure in Pakistan," she stated. 

The Planning Commission's former member energy, Akhtar Ali, revealed that the average power demand per district in Pakistan stood around 300-400 megawatts and one renewable energy plant per district could provide 30,000-40,000MW on average. 

He emphasized that the country should only go for renewable energy after 2025 in a bid to become self-sufficient. 

The ex-member energy also highlighted that earlier the storage capacity for renewable energy was costly, which now became affordable, hence, Pakistan was in a better position to produce electricity from eco-friendly methods. 

The Pakistan Electric Power Company’s former managing director, Tahir Basharat Cheema, recalled that around 1999-2000, Pakistan had surplus power generation and the country had even offered to sell electricity to India.

"At that time, the country did not have to worry about energy but by 2006, Pakistan began facing load-shedding. Now in 2020, we are talking about surplus energy when load-shedding is still rampant, hence, we do not have surplus capacity," he observed. 

He lamented that power companies resorted to revenue-based load-shedding as the areas providing low revenue faced higher load-shedding, adding that the majority of areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan were suffering due to this strategy. 

The oher topics discussed at the webinar were transformation of Pakistan's energy infrastructure and elite capture.

Nisar Memon reflects on sustainable development

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan News & Features Services) 

“It’s time to reflect once again as to where we stand in the comity of nations and where we are going. A debater can argue on both sides of the stage, a demagogue can harangue endlessly without substance, but the thinking people reflect in the context of security and sovereignty of the country,” Senator Nisar Memon, a former federal minister, remarked during an interview with PNFS.

“Let’s look at our status from just one international prism of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which were adopted in 2015 by all member states of the United Nations following the earlier Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). We have to find out where we have not been able to do well,” he opined.

“The Sustainable Development Report (SDR) 2020 places Pakistan at 134th position (out of 166) in the SDG Index with score of 56.2 against a regional average score of 67.2 and top most score of 84.7 of Sweden. The report was launched at a webinar last week by its authors with the United Nations Secretary-General’s special adviser Prof Jeffrey Sach, and professionals from the world over in attendance,” Senator Nisar Memon pointed out. 

“The 17 SDGs, also known as Global Goals, cover a broad range of subjects ranging from poverty to economy, health to education, water to energy, climate actions to protecting planet, innovation and infrastructure, peace and justice to partnership for the future. The member countries were closely involved in developing goals and sub-goals thus were committed to pursue them,” he added. 

“The highest priority of every government must remain the suppression of the pandemic. There can be no economic recovery while the pandemic is raging,” he narrated the first of the six key findings of the SDR 2020.

“The report indicates that COVID-19 impacts are amplified for the most vulnerable groups. We in Pakistan have witnessed how it has impacted vulnerable people with resultant sufferings,” he regretted. 

The former federal minister revealed that the Korean Crisis Management Committee on COVID-19 was headed by their Prime Minister to achieve the remarkable results putting Korea at 20th position. 

“They had effective awareness with transparent communication of the programs developed with participation of concerned people with trust which helped implement actions. In addition, vigorous testing was their hallmark in the success,” he shared. 

“The lead countries recognized the strong nexus between health and security. The far sighted leadership continued to recalibrate policies and programs of crisis and not justifying as to who was right or wrong. The research community was effectively involved in crisis avoidance for future,” he noted. 

“The report confirms that the countries which had responded to SDGs since 2015 also responded more effectively so far to the Covid-19. SDGs are all about governance, development and improving the living standards of the world. Yet, even after 4 days of launch of SDR2020 we did not see any report, news, or views in our media. Will one who is leading tell citizens: Where do we stand on catching up on SDGs?” he questioned.

Coronavirus Update: Sindh’s death toll surpasses 1,500

By Mukhtar Alam
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Sindh’s overall COVID-19 fatality tally surpassed 1,500 on July 4 when authorities in the government confirmed deaths of another 42 patients during the last 24 hours, with detection of 1,585 new infections across Sindh, taking the tally of infected people to 92,306, with an overall case rate of 19% since February 26 when the province registered its first coronavirus case at Karachi. 

The total COVID-19 fatalities till July 4 morning was recorded as 1,501, against 575 deaths till June 4, which climbed to 679 on June 8, 916 on June 17, 1,013 on June 19, 1,103 on June 22, 1,205 on June 26, 1406 on July 1, with an overall fatality rate of 1.62% due to infections.

The Sindh Chief Minister, Syed Murad Ali Shah, in his daily statement on coronavirus status in the province, stated that 52,388 patients had recovered from the diseases so far, including 1,480 who were cleared of the diseases during the last 24 hours ending at 9 am on July 4. 

He said that at present a total 1,603 patients were hospitalized, including 733 in critical conditions, out of which 98 were put on ventilators, adding that another 36515 COVID-19 positive cases were in home isolation, while 299 more were isolated at government sponsored centres, 

The details about residential status of the deceased persons and hospitals where they lost their lives were not made available by the authorities in the government or the health department. 

According to the chief minister’s statement, Karachi presented the maximum of 928 infections during the last 24 hours, followed by Sukkur (107), Hyderabad (76), Ghotki (65), Matiari (31), Thatta (16), Khairpur (14), Jacobabad (13), Badin (12), Naushero Feroze (12), Sanghar (9), Umerkot (9), Kambar Shahdadkot (8), Mirpurkhas (7), Jamshoro (6), Larkana (4), while Dadu, Kashmore, Shikarpur and Shaheed Benazirabad reported one new case each. 

WHO Report

A Sindh updates report prepared by the World Health Organization’s Sindh sub-office giving an account of cases, recoveries and deaths since March 10 to July 3, noted that the province had a total 90,721 infections during the said period. 

The greatest number of cases was reported from District East in Karachi as Karachi contributed to 78% of the total cases in Sindh. “The highest attack rate is in Karachi (443/100,000 population).” 

According to the report, Sindh was having 38,354 active cases of COVID till July 3 and most of the active cases were in home isolation (95%). Only 5% were admitted in hospitals and government isolation centers. 

It further said that 38% of the total deaths (1,459) occurred in government facilities, 37% in private hospitals, 21% in home isolations, while isolation status of remaining 4% fatalities could not be known. 

According to the report, among the testing capacity, 72% was utilized overall. In all 1,397 health workers including doctors, nurses, paramedics and other contracted COVID-19 during a period from March 10 to July 3, 2020, in Sindh. 

Beijing to bid farewell to Ambassador Naghmana Hashmi

By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The Ambassador of Pakistan to China, Naghmana Alamgir Hashmi, is going to bid farewell after one-year tenure in Beijing. Moin-ul-Haque, currently serving as Ambassador of Pakistan to Paris will replace her as the new envoy to Beijing. 

The Vice Foreign Minister of China, Luo Zhaohui, met with Ambassador Naghmana Hashmi on July 2. He acknowledged her great contribution in promoting friendly exchanges and cooperation between China and Pakistan, expressed the hope that she would continue to support China-Pakistan relations. 

The Ambassador thanked the Chinese side for its valuable support during her performance of duties and believed Pakistan-China relations would overcome any difficulties and challenges and constantly achieve greater development. 

Naghmana Hashmi has been recognized for her contribution to the cultural understanding between China and Pakistan. As an ambassador in favor of Chinese culture, she depicted the traits of Chinese civilization as peaceful and benevolent. 

Meanwhile, she has endeavored to share the core spirit of Pakistan and its people by introducing Sufism to the Chinese audience. Her deep understanding of both Chinese and Pakistani cultures has warranted her achievements in bringing the two peoples closer. 

She is also hailed as a champion of promoting China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). She has highlighted the tangible results and benefits to the local people brought about by CPEC and recognized its renewed vitality into Pakistan’s socio-economic development. 

Her signed article ‘From Khunjerab to Gwadar: 69 years of concord, cooperation, and connectivity’ was a reflection of her untiring efforts in promoting the CPEC project.  

Khunjerab border reopening deliberated

By Masood Sattar Khan

(Pakistan News & Features Services) 

Pakistan and China, on July 4, deliberated on reopening of Khunjerab border as well as strategies to exploit bilateral trade and investment opportunities in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic. 

The meeting in this regard was held in Islamabad between Advisor to the Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment, Abdul Razak Dawood, and the Chinese Ambassador in Pakistan, Yao Jing. 

The Advisor informed the Chinese envoy that around 186 containers were stuck at the Khunjerab border, having caused great concern among small businesses in particular.

The Ambassador apprised the Advisor that temporary reopening of the border was under consideration in order to clear the backlog of containers. Both sides agreed to finalize the modalities in this regard to resolve the issue on priority. 

The Advisor underscored that the exports of Pakistan were beginning to gain momentum after a slowdown caused by COVID-19 outbreak and subsequent lockdowns, urging that both sides needed to discuss issues pertaining to bilateral trade with emphasis to further diversify the products being exported from Pakistan, with a specific focus on value-addition, under Phase II of the China Pakistan Free Trade Agreement. 

The Chinese Ambassador threw light on some proposals for joint ventures between Chinese and Pakistani companies, particularly in value added agriculture sector. 

The Advisor highlighted that meat and poultry exports of Pakistan have risen by more than 50% in the fiscal year 2019-20, with market accessibility to Middle East. 

The cooperation on ongoing projects of CPEC were also discussed during the meeting as the Advisor emphasized the need to start the industrial activity through development of Special Economic Zones. 

The Ambassador gave a brief overview of plans to enhance bilateral trade and investment, adding that China was moving fast on some of the construction projects in Pakistan, which would create a number of jobs for the local population.

North Korea prevents COVID-19 making inroads

By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un told a meeting of the politburo of the ruling Workers Party that his country had stopped the novel coronavirus from making inroads in the country, the state news agency KCNA reported on July 3. 

"We have thoroughly prevented the inroad of the malignant virus and maintained a stable anti-epidemic situation despite the worldwide health crisis, which is a shining success achieved," Kim Jong Un said in a statement carried by KCNA. 

He warned against self-complacency or relaxation in the anti-epidemic effort and urged North Koreans to maintain maximum alert. 

While North Korea has not confirmed any infections, its public health ministry has reported all 922 people checked so far have tested negative. Hundreds of people, mostly cargo handlers at seaports and land borders, are being regularly quarantined for monitoring. 

The politburo meeting on July 2 was held at a time when many hard-hit countries were easing lockdowns, even as the world moved quickly past the grim milestones of 10 million confirmed infections and 500,000 deaths. 

According to reports, North Korea has reopened schools but kept a ban on public gatherings and made it mandatory for people to wear masks in public places as part of its response to the coronavirus threat.

Expeditious completion of CPEC projects sought

By Masood Sattar Khan

(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Prime Minister Imran Khan has directed the completion of all projects under the auspices of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) expeditiously. 

He issued these directives while chairing a meeting to review progress of the CPEC projects in Islamabad on July 3. 

While appreciating the role of the CPEC Authority, headed by Lt General Asim Saleem Bajwa, the Prime Minister further emphasized that, upon completion, the dividends from these projects must reach to all Pakistanis. 

Imran Khan described the CPEC as an excellent initiative for Pakistan's socioeconomic uplift which would guarantee a bright future for the country. 

During the meeting, the Prime Minister was briefed in detail about the status of the various ongoing projects under the CPEC. Federal ministers Asad Umar, Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar and Omar Ayub Khan, Commerce Advisor, Abdur Razzak Dawood, CPEC Authority Chairman Lt General Asim Saleem Bajwa and senior officers of the organizations concerned attended the meeting.