Emirates has announced to start scheduled flights from Sialkot on June 24, which will be the fourth destination from Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad. The UAE’s flag carrier announced that its flights from Sialkot would only carry outbound passengers to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and onward destinations. In contrast, its returning flights from UAE will carry cargo.
Parliamentary Affair Adviser Dr Babar Awan on Friday presented a bill in the Senate seeking parliamentarian’ free air travel privilege extended to their families. The Members of Parliament (Salaries and Allowances) (Amendment) Bill, 2020 aims at “ensuring the utility of 25 air tickets to the parliamentarians for their family members, sans any burden on the exchequer”.
Despite the governments efforts to curb hoarding of essential medicines, otherwise widely available cheap medicine disappears from pharmacies in Islamabad. The Islamabad Capital Territory Administration (ICTA) has decided to launch an action against the drug stores involved in hoarding dexamethasone drug, which is being prescribed to coronavirus patients. On selling of dexamethasone in hiked prices, the pharmacists will face action legal consequences.
Number of coronavirus cases have reduced by 90 per cent in an area of the federal capital which was sealed on March 13, it was revealed by Islamabad Deputy Commissioner Hamza Shafqat. “Around 100 cases were being reported daily from Sector G-9, but after enforcement of smart lockdown the number of cases has reduced to 8-9 per day.” he told the media.
A recovered patient in Islamabad refused to donate his blood plasma after finding out that the recipient belongs to Shia sect. The middle-aged man at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) was in a critical condition and the family went out in search for plasma of a recovered patient. However, the donor immediately backed out after learning about details about the recipient.
The Ministry of National Health Services (NHS) on Tuesday announced that plasma therapy should not be considered as a cure for coronavirus. After increase in illegal sale and purchase of convalescent plasma, the ministry warned people about serious side effects of plasma therapy. Since CP is still an experimental therapy, it can only be safely used under controlled settings as part of research protocol.
Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) leader Akhtar Mengal announced on floor of the National Assembly that they are breaking their alliance with the ruling party. “We will be present in the House and will continue to raise our voice,” he said during the lower house session. BNP-M is represented by four MNAs in National Assembly and has one seat in Senate.
Pakistan’s first anchor and Neelam Ghar’s legendary host Tariq Aziz has passed away in Lahore on Wednesday morning. Aziz passed away due to a cardiac arrest at the age of 85. He was admitted in a private hospital last night after falling critically ill. Tariq posted his last Tweet yesterday, in which he mentioned his state of mind due to the sickness.
The police have confiscated fake Pakistani currency from an official of Indian High Commission during investigation of a hit and run case in Islamabad. The police seized fake 10,000 Pakistani rupees from official Silvades Paul. The tenure of the Indian High Commission official is to expire in December 2020, who was later handed over to senior diplomats of Indian High Commission.
An officer and two soldiers of the Indian army were killed in a “violent faceoff” on the contested Ladakh border with China, the first such incident in 45 years between the two countries. Tension on the border has been rising for a past couple of weeks, and thousands of extra troops have been deployed from both sides in the region.