The Daily PakistanPolitics Mar16-31, 2020

• Mar31,2020--The IHC dismisses a case in which they pleaded to take action against the PTI regime for mishandling return of travellers from Iran at Taftan thus causing corona to spread in the country...Specifically it is alleged that the Imran Khan subordinate Zulfikar Bokhari used his influence technically telephone calls to officials for getting travellers released from Taftan...others suggest he had been receiving telephone calls from Yusuf Raza gilani to get his followers released...still others suggest that Imran Khan urged the ISI to delete telephone calls made by the said subordinate...there are reports that around six thousand travellers were allowed to pass thru Taftan before the government took any action...other reports suggest that there were no facilities at Taftan for quarantine and isolation...later several hundred tents were setup
  
• Mar31,2020--1836 cases in pakistan with 23 deaths...cases in sindh, punjab and KP continue to rise..Italy, New York are still trouble spots alongwith Spain...cases have started to rise in Iran...In Italy cases rise by 5000 daily with almost near 1000 deaths daily...estimates in fatalities rise to 200000 in the USA with Donald Trump saying 100000 is now a reasonable figure...experienced medical staff travelling to New York with a US army 1000 bed hospital ship arriving offshore
  
• Mar31,2020--44 vaccines are under preparation with two from the USA and China being tested...the vaccines they say will be too late if they take a year to develop...they should try for a weak or diluted live vaccine which may solve the problem...cases continue to rise worldwide with over 37000 deaths
  
• Mar30,2020--virus spreading amongst tableeghis in Raiwind, Bara Kahu and Sukkur...the tableeghi travel process becomes dangerous under the situation as they meet and form teams to visit various areas where they go from mosques invite people for prayer from home to home...government has taken most of them into quarantine as there are numerous infections...pakistani cases have gone up to 1613 increasing by around 50 daily and nineteen deaths...the confirmed cases are around 900 from Iran and 300 from other places including saudia, england, nigeria, greece, italy etc. The government says that there are 27% local infections...cases in GB rose to 128 with another doctor succumbing to the virus...Bara Kahu streets have been washed with chlorinated water while PIMs outer areas washed with a partial bleach solution...cases in jhleum rise to 27/58...newer cases emerging from various places like attock, taxila, wah, muzzafargarh, rahimyarkhan etc...infections increasing amongst police and doctors...a person who returned from italy in december and was arrested for attempting to smuggle drugs is one of the lahore jail prisoners who was infected...government now checking other prisoners and will vacate the jail from 2800 inmates to make a quarantine center
  
• Mar30,2020--controversy in the US about under reporting of fatalities in Wuhan...they say deaths in December 2019 were higher by 1550 than previous years suggesting that deaths from covid in december might not have been reported..other reports cite the huge number of urns supplied to eight funeral homes in Wuhaan...the calculations by wuhan residents on social media and the USA is that around 26000 might have died in Wuhan...! urns supplied to funeral hones in Wuhan exceed the number of normal deaths in China...!
  
• Mar30,2020--as for politisizing of issues...the worst perpretrator is the PTI itself...while generally in hiding the PTI continues its nefarious politics eg. one unelected advisor wants to initiate cases over Taftan...the primeminister still refuses to meet opposition leaders saying that they are involved in corruption...the primeminister is also accused of at least two suspicious activities and cases against the PTI have been suppressed...maybe the SC should also go into hibernation for a month ...the PPP however wants some shining light for its better handling of the virus situation...the government has been slow in providing proper PPE's and test kits seem to not have reached the grassroots...generally speaking there is agreement that the government was slow to rise to the bait in Taftan which apparently has only three small rooms according to the primeminister...obviously you cannot have a huge haji camp there...however arrangements of having some better enclosed space there should be started immediately
  
• Mar30,2020--viruses cases are rising slowly in pakistan..cases rising in jhelum and punjab generally...rawalpindi has several localities in partial seal mode as people keep moving around
  
• Mar30,2020--worldwide deaths are rising as are new cases...Pakistan should keep airlines off the air
  
• Mar30,2020--doctors and policemen catching the virus in Karachi and Islamabad...they should realize that they should buy protective gear if they do not have it...policemen who are in contact with people should wear two masks and latex gloves and cover their eyes with goggles...they should use new masks everyday and throw away the gloves after use...use new uniforms everyday
  
• Mar29,2020--people should take their flu shots as it might eventually save them from pneumonia like complications...pneumonia is very similar to what happens with the covid virus...doctors using prednisolone to reduce chest congestion as well as oxygen and breathing exersizes said one patient and cold compresses on her head and hot compresses on her chest...people should also do breathing exersizes normally so that lungs are stronger..peopel should use oximeters to check if they are breathing normally...japanese flu drug favipiravir(Avigen) is being touted as reducing infection in four days compared to eleven without it...Kaletra used at a specific stage does not help but can stop some complications...instead of chloroquine use hydroxychloroquin as it is less toxic...to recover serious virus patients need very experienced nurses as attendants(who generally do the work in pakistan) could be vulnerable to contagion
  
• Mar29,2020--Pakistan cases jump to 1526 and 14 deaths...punjab leads with 570 cases...possibly there maybe another 12000 cases under current circumstance...about 400 cases travel related
  
• Mar29,2020--665000 cases worldwide and over 30000 deaths...In china over 75000 have recovered...US cases mount to 125000...141000 have recovered worldwide...
  
• Mar28,2020--countrywide goods movement allowed
  
• Mar28,2020--The governments/NAB's attitude in the jang group owners case is also very suspect...arresting mir shakeel ur rejman for a three decades old case is clearly politically motivated even though there is cause for prosecution with the Jang group owner having bought 54 one canal plots in a contiguos area near the lahore canal in Johar town...no clear corruption has been shown apart from showing excessive favors by the chief minister at that time Nawaz sharif and the LDA...arresting the jang group owner has again shown the suspicious nature of NAB actions...no evidence can be vanished and clearly they could interrogate the jang group owner without the arrest
  
• Mar27,2020--Milk at Rs.50 a kilo in karachi...worldwide deaths rise to over 24000 and cases over 525000...USA becomes leader in number of affected with 85000...Italy still leads in deaths...In Pakistan... Bara Kahu in Islamabad a locality of 150000 has been sealed after 17 confirmed cases... two other new areas in islamabad emerge..shehzad town and Rimsha colony...eight people from a street in sattelite town, rawalpindi shifted to quarantine...overall pakistan cases rise to over 1200 and 9 deaths..punjab inches closer to sindh with 408 cases...governments preparing extra isolation and quarantine areas...experienced doctor in New York says that Covid cases can be identified clinically as long lines form for testing...in pakistan lockdown for the forseeable future as cases emerge in newer areas...government might have its hands full with food/charity distribution as country grinds to a halt...government plans for an extra 5 million charity cases and creates a lifeline for cases that the government is blind too...the pakistan system depends on a sort of poverty survey exersize that has not been conducted for 12 years...covid could be a gas that permeates the air and is almost impossible to stop inhalation unless u have 0.3 micron mask...
  
• Mar26,2020--Italy and the USA almost ganging up on China tobe the world leader in covid cases...Italy has 74000 and the USA 69000 to China's 81000 cases...less developed countries are at the bottom of the lists probably because they travel less
  
• Mar26,2020--The primeminister seems tobe focusing on his role as a beggar rather than focusing on doing...he seems tobe suggesting that he is the only one not responsible for anything...!many think that it might be better for the military to coup and appoint Zafar Mirza as the primeminister as he attended a video conference of saarc primeministers...!there are also many who critisize the arrest of The Jang owner for a 1980's transfer of numerous plots in Johar Town from two private parties...As expected the NAB/court than asked for an explanation from Nawaz Sharif...as the LDA chief said that he had done it on Nawaz Sharifs orders...The Jang owner has complained to the UN for being victimised thru a celebrity lawyer
  
• Mar26,2020--worldwide patients increase to 472000 while deaths rise to 21308...In pakistan patients rise to 1102 with 8 deaths and five in critical condition...funerals might also be a problem after one person dies after attending a funeral in AJK...positive patients rising in Rawalpindi district...six patients tested positive from dhoke kashmirian in sadiqabad, rawalpindi...Rawalpindi district has 27 confirmed and 34 suspected cases of which 17 are from Jhelum...highest cases in punjab are from DG khan and Lahore...there are supposedly 153 cases of local infection in the country mostly from foreign travellers...GB and Mardan are other problem areas apart from Karachi...the crazy president has sought a fatwa from al azhar university to stop jumma prayers...no followers here of jamiah al azhar that is in egypt...Imran Khan refused to listen to the opposition and ran away after making an inaugural statement at meeting...The PPP and PMLn leaders also than left who were attending by video conference...PTI leaders and workers are absent from the country and supposedly in self isolation...many are referring to Imran Khan as the eternal beggar primeminister as he continues to beg donors...he also wanted to get something from Saarc from an indian donation...!
  
• Mar25,2020--Covid patients worldwide have increased to 44048 with over 18947 deaths...china which still has the highest number of covid patients says that 60810 have recovered...otherwise things deteriorating in major european countries and the USA...patients in Italy mount to over 69000 with 6800 deaths...Spain inching near second place in deaths....In Europe those recovered are still around 10% therefore deaths may go above current estimates. Daily increase in cases has fallen slightly to 40000 worldwide
  
• Mar25,2020--hospitals in islamabad-rawalpindi associated with private medical colleges offer their beds for covid patients...they will provide free food and medicines and government will provide protective uniforms...in PIMs they have four ventilators for Covid patients...happily however experienced chinese doctors have arrived in islamabad while arrival of 50000 test kits and material for protective uniforms has arrived in punjab...hospitals like al shifa now charge Rs16000 for emergency care and have forty beds...as expected their emergencies are largely empty...generally pakistan is now on lockdown with balochistan joining the list...imran khan focusing on distributing money to the richer segments of his economy and largely forgetting to help ordinary people which he is leaving to the provinces, hospitals, the army and police...there have been two local transmission deaths in covid while a patient in KP might have transmitted the disease to hundreds after returning from Saudia and was not quarantined...similar reports from a mandi bahauddin traveller...one of Imran Khans exporters MariaB's husband was arrested after he allowed a covid employee to go back to his village
  
• Mar24,2020--Drap says there are 25 million chloroquine tablets in the market and 9000kg raw material sufficient for a year...they say the medicine is toxic if used out of control...its use is generally limited to one a week for malaria prohylaxsis... however its use in other countries for malaria treatment has declined....chinese have advised two tablets of 500mg daily for ten days for covid patients...some include various anti virals and pneumonia medicines in the treatment...newer anti rheumatoid medicines are also being reccomended
  
• Mar24,2020--typically the mean(economy only for the rich)Imran Khan refusing to pass on the gains in cheaper oil to the people...however he has allocated 200 billion for the poorly performing exporters who are generally millionaires/billionaires at least...there is nothing for the people who have mostly lost their entire incomes...Bisp payouts increased to Rs3000 however no allocation for the emerging social security poor...since BISP only deals with previously identified poor one does not know how those who are losing everything due to the crisis will be compensated...they say they were just playing politics with people and have enough foodstuffs...
  
• Mar24,2020--Things have deteriorated in Islamabad...Pims doctors panicking as twenty patients have arrived and only now they have defined isolation wards...They have shutdown the empty OPD's as young doctors and junior consultants refusing to work...An islamabad locality Kot Hathyal in Bara Kahu partially sealed after identifying seven covid tableeghis...one kyrghz had been identified a week ago...two mosques sealed...kot hathyal a 15000 cpmmunity is being screened door to door and people advised to stay home...countrywide covid patients have increased to 868...19 chinese who have been ill have been identified...a covid patient who escaped was nabbed at a khushab bridge...travellers are covid prone whether they are tableeghis or travelling from other countries...punjab has announced a two week closure of anything that is not essential...AJK in 3 week lockdown...PPP loud mouth saeed Ghani tests positive for covid...KP goes for 4 day holidays...two doctors die in France while two major generals die in egypt...Merkel in isolation after her flu doctor tested positive
  
• Mar23,2020--Shahbaz Sharif returns to provide some strength to punjabi politics viz the buzdil Buzdar...Mqm-P slinks back into the Imran Khan government with an added ministry...opposition critisizes on Imran Khan's weak response to Corona virus...urging a lockdown...country already in partial lockdown mode...government mulling economic costs and how to deal with it...whats app is resounding with Imran Khan's dharna speeches of shutting down the country on the 16th...many are now saying that he was blackmailing Nawaz Sharif
  
• Mar23,2020--with a slight deterioration in the situation the sindh government has announced a 15 total lockdown with movement only for necessary purposes...GB has also announced an indefinite lockdown while punjab and GB have also asked for military assistance after Sindh...Punjab is in a lockdown till tuesday while Islamabad has closed unnecessary public places... a doctor has died in GB from a local infection while a women died in Parachinar...the sindh CM said that local infections were increasing but did not give a figure. There are now 799 cases with six deaths...Sindh has 352 cases while punjab has 225..The punjab areas of Gujer Khan, jhelum, mandi bahauddin and gujerat are being considered under threat after the return of 4000 expatriates from mostly problem areas of the world...The government is arranging for the return of pakistanis stranded at airports in UAE, Qatar, turkey and thailand while advising others not to travel for the present...train services tobe stopped from April1..all provincial governments have stopped inter city/district travel...government has banned sale of malaria medicines for prophylactic use without prescription...internet suggests that malaria medicine combined with azithromycin is effective as a treatment for covid19...75 US embassy staffers were flown out on a private airplane after the US government allowed reduction in staff and voluntary returns from embassies..shops forcibly closed in Buner and Bajaur...in sindh officials suspended for selfie with a covid victim...Imran Khan is avoiding supporting a lockdown though his governance is limited to Islamabad in case of the covid pandemic...governments in Punjab and KP, islamabad are trying to setup hospitals/spaces for emergency care and officials for KP and baluchistan were trained in the punjab for emergency care..Government trying to arrange import of 100 ventilators from china...young doctors were panicking at not being provided proper equipment for emergency care of covid patients...covid patients are said to have arrived from pakistan in Jordan and Gaza...given the panic like situation Punjab and KP may also soon announce a lockdown...as people worry and are hardly useful at work...the situation though still evolving might create a social security nightmare for daily wage earners..The government has been given funds of $500 million by the WB/ADB and $40 million has been diverted from other WB projects
  
• Mar22,2020--Many are saying that Dr Moeed Yusuf is a Imran Khan bacha and looks a total sifarishi in the position of National Security Advisor...armed forces who initially were reluctant are now moving in to help provincial governments...one report talks of chaos at Lahore international airport as screeners shout for passengers from Iran and China...!
  
• Mar22,2020--645 cases in pakistan... situation in Italy continues to worsen with 54000 cases and nearly 5000 deaths...in the UK 5000 cases and 233 deaths...pakistan suspends international flights for two weeks with partial lockdowns in lahore, karachi and islamabad and quetta...trains to stop on April1...India announces recovery after using two antivirals...WHO to announce treatment regimens soon...development of vaccines going on in many countries...recovered patients plasma can help those infected...Sindh announces distribution of one million Rs7000 basket of goods for daily wage earners
  
• Mar21,2020--The situation in Pakistan is gradually serious and evolving...most returnees from Iran are still being tested and almost 1-2 in five returnees are said tobe testing positive...the government is saying that 150000 pakistanis want to return from epicenters of the disease but that they cannot handle that many yet...quarantine centers are gradually being setup with a 10000 center in karachi...in other places governments are setting up quarantine areas...Baluchistan has a lock down in Quetta despite only a hundred cases while Sindh has asked people to isolate for three days...most cases still amongst returnees from Iran...The pakistan government despite having no influence is also trying its hand at covid politics urging India to remove the communication blockade on Indian held Kashmir...It has also urged the donors to write off loans and end sanctions on Iran...sanctions hardly matter at this stage as Iran probably does not want to sell its oil at such low rates...many suggest that sanctions maybe ended on medical supplies if Iran does require or need them...another cause of concern is the increasing number of returnees from europe's problem areas in the areas of gujerat, mandi bahauddin and jhelum...apparently one father son team evaded screening by paying a 6000 rupee bribe and started meeting all their relatives and have now tested positive creating a big problem...the government has also sent halal food to the students in Wuhan which will last for 15 days...
  
• Mar21,2020--the chinese have reccommended Resochin or Plaquanil 500mg twice a day for ten days for corona patients...no reports on whether it can help avoid/prevent corona...anyway people are advised to take 500mg once a week to avoid malaria...the dengue or malaria season is coming up and governments should be aware of that too
  
• Mar21,2020--overall world cases of covid-19 crossed the 244000 mark with more than 11000 deaths...Italy became the highest mortality victim with over 4000 deaths...either there are more elderly people in Italy or their medical services are not adequate...some are blaming the priests who might have read the last rites too soon...
  
• Mar20,2020--The PHC CJ has protested at being overlooked for promotion to the SC as CJ's are normally considered for promotion first...The judge promoted from the punjab according to him is junior...The PHC CJ heading a special court had sentenced musharaf to death while the Punjab high court than had overruled his judgement...
  
• Mar20,2020--the government sealed the Wagah border as cases in Pakistan reached 453...islamabad neared a total lockdown even though most people were staying at home...in rawalpindi children were still running around in the streets...some of the situations showed the pathetic nature of pakistani doctors who were threatening to go on strike if not provided proper clothing for their protection...the rawalpindi urology hospital is an empty structure being constructed for the last decade alongwith two or three other incomplete hospitals...it has been designated as the hospital for Covid...other reports suggested that there are just eight patients in the Bahawalpur CMH possibly covid related...!many think the government should take over all military hospitals and throw them open to the public as military personnel are a healthier breed...
  
• Mar19,2020--The reason that NAB had filed a report saying that judges and staff had availed out of turn allottments in housing was that the trial was of the ex housing minister who had done the allottments...maybe they wanted the confused judges of the IHC to recuse themselves...! the judges mistakenly took it tobe blackmail and refused to accept their participation in corruption at best...
  
• Mar19,2020--officer three soldiers killed in north waziristan
  
• Mar19,2020--pathetic SC reinstates air marshal as MD PIA ignoring the governments convoluted methods of selection in which they ignored many Lt. generals and other air marshals...nobody from the private sector was allowed to compete...they also did not ask why a flt lieutenant had been hired by the air marshal...!
  
• Mar19,2020--monitor the covid virus at this john hopkins site https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6
  
• Mar19,2020--covid cases near 300 with 28 in punjab...punjab cases expected to increase...two covid deaths in KP
  
• Mar19,2020--The PSL semifinals were put off after a player showed covid like symtoms...Alex Hales says he is one player who exhibited symptoms two days after returning to england...
  
• Mar18,2020--people coming to pakistan will have to get a covid-19 test a day earlier while domestic passengers are now being screened
  
• Mar18,2020--shrines in islamabad have been closed alongwith gyms, swimming pools and children play areas
  
• Mar18,2020--IHC CJ accuses NAB of blackmail when a NAB report suggesting that judges and court staff were given out of turn housing allottments...why the report was submitted is not known and NAB suggestions that it maybe kept secret were shot down...
  
• Mar18,2020--The government again has attempted to help the billionaire classes with no relief for the people...exports are expected to fall with europe increasingly expected to lockdown...people should prepare to stay at home and at least have cover for emergency medicines and some atta/rice and daals...there is no point in relief to exporters when the worldwide markets are expected to be shutdown...
  
• Mar18,2020--Imran Khan suggests no lockdowns but that the virus spread may not be blocked...while there are no indigenous cases most cases having come from iran with a couple from the UK...the primeminister tried to curry sympathy for his efforts and said that 0.9 million had been screened but many fear that test kits may not be available in sufficent numbers...the army chief said that they would try to stop any infections in the army...and said that covid testing facilities are being created at military hospitals...covid tests are basically a test of the samples DNA...however at the moment most cases are in Sindh and the sindh government has moved towards a lockdown with restaurants, shopping malls, public parks, govt offices and intercity transport being shutdown...many suggest that Sindh has insufficient test kits...at times testing has tobe done several times...apparently the Agha Khan hospital a supposedly sect oriented NGO is Covid testing for Rs7900...!while NUST islamabad is doing it at supposedly half rates of $20 while the Punjab University says they have developed a $5 test...PU professor says that tests should be done at labs that can reduce infection in staff or have a BSL-3 standard...
  
• Mar17,2020--Corona virus cases in pakistan jump to 183 with 150 in sindh and one in punjab and 2 in islamabad...world stock markets are tumbling and crude prices falling as demand tumbles..The pakistan government not passing on the benefits of lower world prices...virus cases could rise further as over 780 cases are quarantined in a Dera Ghazi Khan university after returning from Iran and most having symptoms...social distancing being made popular to the pakistanis used to handshaking/hugging..cricketers bumping elbows...since most cases originated in iran returning travellers are being sent back to their provinces for quarantining and tests after a fourteen day quarantine in Taftan...about 6000 returnees escaped from Taftan...possibilities of lockdowns in islamabad and other places causing people to think of stocking up on food and medicines...government trying to improve its pathetic information services and corona testing services available at least 14 core hospitals...even Nust has started a half cost corona testing service with the aid of the Wuhan Institute of Viriology...The crazy president of Pakistan goes on a trip to China...!most organizations in pakistan taking individual steps to disengage from visitors with Nadra even screening visitors...new cases are falling in most places barring Italy and Spain with iran, switzerland, france, gemany following the leaders...new cases in china have fallen to 14