Currently, Pakistan has seven diagnostic labs which are capable of conducting 15,000 tests, but there is a need for more diagnostic facilities in case the number of suspected patients go up,” WHO's country representative said and added that authorities had even established a mobile diagnostic facility that had been dispatched to Taftan to test and diagnose suspected people coming from Iran.

The country representative of The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) in Pakistan, Dr Palitha Gunarathna Mahipala, said on Friday that Pakistan had observed one of world’s best “national response programmes’ against COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan and urged the people to follow the precautionary and preventive measures to avoid contracting the virus, which is extremely contagious but not as lethal as some other members of the coronavirus family.

Talking about the the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic, he said even countries with well-advanced health systems like South Korea and Italy had failed to contain COVID-19. He added that Pakistani authorities timely responded to the threat and took measures which resulted in keeping the virus at bay for a longer time when other counties were having its cases.

Read more: Coronavirus scares India: IPL may be cancelled

Further more, he urged the people to take precautionary measures to avoid contracting the viral disease, saying they should avoid visiting public gatherings, maintain hand hygiene by washing their hands with soap and water, following coughing and sneezing etiquettes, and remaining indoors in case of flu-like symptoms. “Maintaining hand hygiene is the key to prevent oneself from contracting not only COVID-19, but also many other transmissible diseases. People should regularly wash their hands with soap and water at least for 20 seconds and use sanitizers when they can not wash their hands,” he said, adding that adopting coughing etiquettes was also very important as it would prevent spreading the virus to others.

“ It is very important that people remain indoors for some days if they have flu-like symptoms. It would prevent other people from contracting the disease even if it is not COVID-19.”

WHO country head visited Jinnah International Airport Karachi on Friday

World Health Organisation’s Country Representative in Pakistan, Dr Palitha Gunarathna Mahipala had reviewed arrangements for coronavirus screening at the Jinnah International Airport on Friday and expressed his satisfaction.

While talking at the occasion, he said that he was quite satisfied with the arrangements made for the screening of passengers at the airport. Moreover, he also commended the efforts of staff doing screening of the passengers.

He said he has given few recommendations to provincial and federal officials regarding screening but he is satisfied with the arrangements that have been made at Karachi Airport in order to stop spread of Coronavirus.

Read more: Stocks at PSX yoyo over coronavirus menace

He also visited isolation rooms set up temporarily from Sindh government along with screening Camps set up by federal and provincial governments. Representative of sub ordinate office of WHO in Sindh Dr Sara Salman, officials of provincial health department were also present at the occasion.

Further more he said,’“I have spent almost an hour at the Karachi International Airport and I’m quite satisfied with the screening arrangements at the airport. There are two setups for screening and they are quite satisfactory. I have given some suggestions to authorities but overall I’m satisfied with the arrangements”, Dr. Palitha said.