ISLAMABAD: April 26, 2021 (TNS): Director General Inter Services Public Relations Major General Babar Iftikhar has said army troops have been deployed across Pakistan to assist the civil administration in coping with the Covid challenge since this morning.
Addressing a news conference in Rawalpindi this evening, he said Army has been called in under Article 245 of the Constitution to assist civil administration and law enforcement agencies to prevent spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. He said a brigadier level officer will head the army troops at divisional level, while an officer with the rank of Lt Colonel will serve at district level. He said Pakistan Army will not claim any kind of internal security allowance for its services in containing the contagion.
Major General Babar Iftikhar said 75 percent of oxygen has been reserved for the health sector and if situation aggravates the oxygen meant for industrial sector will also be diverted to hospitals to save lives. He said there are around 90,000 active Covid cases in Pakistan, while positivity ratio of these cases is higher than five percent in 51 cities. He said this ratio is higher in 16 cities, which include Islamabad, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Multan, Hyderabad, Quetta, and Muzaffarabad. He said ventilator occupancy has reached to 90 percent in some of the cities. He said so far 17,187 people have died of Covid-19.
The DG ISPR said nation’s trust is asset of the armed forces of Pakistan and they will not disappoint the people of Pakistan in this hour of need and will take every possible step to secure lives of the masses. He called for collective responsibilities of observing Standard Operating Procedure like wearing face mask and maintaining social distance to avoid spread of the virus. He said by strict compliance of SOPs at homes and mosques, during Ramadan, we can help one another in this critical time.
