Pak style of combating Covid-19: Use brute force to harass people

Authorities here have imposed stricter measures under the garb of law, including fines and imprisonment for people failing to comply with the government's directives, without any reasonable excuse, to control the coronavirus spread.

The provincial government on Sunday promulgated the Punjab Infectious Diseases (Prevention and Control) Ordinance 2020, allowing civil administration and health department to control the pandemic outbreak in the country, Dawn reported.

The new rules levied by the provincial government stated that those violating the law would be punished, with a jail term not extending more than two months or a fine not exceeding Rs50,000 or both. However, on the repeat offence, the person, upon conviction, may be punished with imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or a fine not exceeding Rs100,000 or both.

And if such offence is committed by a body corporate, the fine for a first offence shall not be less than Rs50,000 and not exceeding Rs200,000; and for a repeat offence not be less than Rs100,000 and not exceed Rs300,000, the law said.

The Punjab province has reported maximum positive cases of the contagious infection in the country. Health officials confirmed that the tally reached 593 on Monday.

After reporting new cases, authorities, today, announced that the novel coronavirus has infected at least 1600 people in the country while 17 others have succumbed to the infection.

The army has been deployed at every check posts and borders of the country in a bid to stain the surging cases. The government has also imposed a lockdown until next month, barring people from moving out of houses without valid reasons, and suspending international flights until further notice.

The ordinance concludingly said that it shall be "the duty of every person, including head of a family, any health professional, who knows or believes that a person under his care, supervision or control is suffering from an infectious disease or is contaminated, to report such case to a notified medical officer immediately.