Pak's coronavirus death toll rises to 514

Pakistan's Cabinet on Tuesday decided to discuss the ways to ease nationwide lockdown with chief ministers of all the provinces on Wednesday, even as the death toll from coronavirus rose to 514.

Prime Minister Imran Khan chaired the Cabinet meeting which was briefed by Planning Minister Asad Umar about the status of ongoing lockdown which will end on May 9 unless extended.

Information Minister Shibli Faraz told the media that the Cabinet decided to discuss lockdown and other coronavirus related issues in the meeting of the National Command and Control Centre (NCOC) on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Khan will chair the meeting which would be attended by the chief ministers of all four province.

"They will sit down and build consensus for a unified policy regarding easing the lockdown. By this time tomorrow, whatever their recommendations are, will be with us, he said.

The issue of lockdown has become important as Khan has been saying that it will destroy Pakistan's fragile economy. Though, it is feared that lifting the lockdown completely and easing it could speed up infection.

Officials said that the number of confirmed cases crossed 22,000 as new cases were being regularly added. They said the number of deaths jumped to 514. Punjab reported 8,133 case, Sindh 8,189, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa 3,499 Balochistan 1,321, Islamabad 464, Gilgit-Baltistan 372 and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir 71 cases. Another 5,801 patients recovered so far.

So far 222,404 tests were conducted, including 9,857 in the last 24 hours.

Prime Minister Khan on Monday said that the nationwide lockdown will be lifted gradually, asserting that Pakistan cannot afford an indefinite closure.

Separately, the parliamentary leaders of various political parties agreed to summon the meeting of the National Assembly on Monday afternoon.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told the media that the session will be held on alternate days by having a break of one day after each sitting and social distancing will also be followed.

Also, the Cabinet in its meeting decided to allow the export of sanitisers to other countries. "The government is trying to export all possible products to push our foreign exchange and exports, Faraz said.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Supreme Court has expressed dismay over the shutting down of business activities by the provincial governments to contain the spread of the virus, questioning if their decision was against the mandate of the Constitution.

Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed, while hearing a case about the tackling of the pandemic in the country, questioned which authority had empowered the provincial governments to encroach upon the revenue generation domain of the federation and that too without prior concurrence of the president or the federal government.