After being stuck in New York, Meera has made her way home to Pakistan. The actor shared the news of her return on her Instagram with a video from the airport. The actor will now be completing 15 days in quarantine before heading to her own home to continue self-isolation. Meera expressed joy on her return and gave a special shout-out the Pakistani embassy and Pakistani consulate, both in Washington DC and NYC.
YouTube, the world’s biggest online video-sharing platform, will give the Pakistan government $5 million to combat the spreading coronavirus. .In a letter to Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki mentioned about the grant to help control the spread of the virus in Pakistan. She said that it is also to compensate people affected due to the pandemic.
Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Yao Jing has said that Beijing is confident that Pakistan will soon overcome the COVID-19 challenge. Ambassador Jing said Pakistan had a lower mortality rate of the virus. About 60% of Pakistan’s population is under the age of 30. Patients infected with the novel coronavirus are mainly young people, with mild symptoms so it is easier to treat them.
The Singapore University of Technology and Design has predicted through mathematical modeling that Covid-19 will end around June 3 for Pakistan. Its project of data-driven estimation of end dates brings together projections for other countries as well. It uses data from Our World in Data and applies the SIR Model for Spread of Disease – The Differential Equation Model.
Pakistan has received $1.39 billion by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to shore up economy, according to the State Bank of Pakistan’s tweet. This is a loan under the Rapid Financing Instrument. It was approved by the IMF on April 17 to bolster the economy during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is expected to meet urgent balance of payment needs that have arisen due to the pandemic.
Pakistan’s usage of petroleum products slumped 31% to 1.38 billion litres countrywide since the lockdown. The Federal Board of Revenue said this had the effect of eating into tax collection. Before the lockdown was enforced, Pakistan’s demand for petroleum products was 2 billion litres.
The FBR said that the global rout in oil prices will nonetheless benefit people here as oil products will be cheaper but tax collection targets may not be achieved.
Pakistan has urged China to ease in payment obligations of over $30 billion worth of about 12,000-megawatt power projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). This will help Pakistan minimise its financial and economic difficulties. This is part of the ongoing government efforts to secure discounts and savings on power purchases from independent power producers (IPPs) as circular debt liabilities cross Rs2 trillion.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), has extended Pakistan’s deadline from June to October to take steps to avoid being placed on its blacklist. The deadline has been extended because of the outbreak of COVID-19. It will now meet from October 21 to October 26 in Beijing. In February 2020, the FATF expressed concerns over “Pakistan’s failure to complete its action plan in line with the agreed timelines.
Former Pakistani batting legend Javed Miandad suggested death penalty for match fixers. He said that players involved in spot-fixing should be hanged because it is similar to killing someone, and so the punishment should also be on the same lines. Miandad who scored Pakistan’s second highest Test runs with 8832 beleives that an example should be set so that no player even thinks about doing something like this.
The Torkham and Chaman borders connecting Pakistan and Afghanistan are going to be opened for three days to allow Afghan nationals to exit Pakistan. The Foreign Office announced the news in a statement on Saturday. It is being opened at the special request of the Afghan government on humanitarian considerations. The Torkham and Chaman border crossings will be opened for a specific period from April 6 to 9.