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.
Scientists at the University of Oxford said they have identified the first drug proven to reduce coronavirus-related deaths, after a 6,000-patient trial of the drug in Britain showed that a low-cost steroid could reduce deaths significantly for hospitalized patients. The steroid, dexamethasone, reduced deaths by a third in patients receiving ventilation, and by a fifth in patients receiving only oxygen treatment.
Two self-taught Pakistani teenagers have developed the world’s first multi-platform game to help fight Covid-19 pandemic. STOP the SPREAD—developed by 13-year-old Nabhan and 14-year-old Kenan— will help bust myths and apply behavioural changes to embrace the “new normal” in an experiential learning simulation game. The kids started working on the game in February 2020, and released it online on April 4, 2020.
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.