Headlines 8am: Punjab eases lockdown, Karachi ICUs full

Here are the headlines from SAMAA TV’s 8am bulletin.

• The Sindh government has allowed mosques to hold congregational Friday prayers. The province has yet to decide on the resumption of public transport services. Businesses will be conducted till May 31 as per the SOPs issued in the last notification by the Sindh government.
• The Punjab government has eased its lockdown. It has asked for the federal government’s permission to reopen restaurants, tourism spots and markets.
• Rising coronavirus cases in Karachi are resulting in crowded hospitals. Only 10 ICU beds remain at private and government hospitals in the city. The Sindh government has decided to isolate virus patients in the dental ward at the Dow University of Health Sciences’ Ojha Campus.
• PTI leader Hunaid Lakhani says the Sindh government has refused to use his hospital for coronvirus patients. Information Minister Nasir Hussain Shah he had never heard of the offer in the first place. You can’t ignore such offers, said Shah. He also asked Lakhani to get in touch with him.
• Prime Minister Imran Khan says the virus’ outbreak has financially crippled developing countries the most. He was addressing an international conference via video link.
• A man who lost his children in the PIA plane crash has complained that he’s not being handed over their bodies despite a week passing since the crash.
• PM Imran Khan said the investigation into the plane crash will be made public once it is concluded. Flight PK-8303’s cockpit flight recorder has been recovered and sent to the Airbus team of experts who’ll decode it in France. The premier said a compensation package will be prepared for the Model Colony residents whose homes were destroyed in the accident.
• An accountability court will hear the Toshakhana case where former prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Yousuf Raza Gilani and former president Asif Ali Zardari have been summoned. NAB accuses the leaders of obtaining vehicles illegally from the Toshakhana (government treasure house).
• A report regarding the sugar and wheat crises has been sent to NAB Chairperson Javed Iqbal for review.
• Federal Information Minister Shibli Faraz has accused PML-N leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi of giving Salman Shehbaz benefits via a sugar subsidy. He called Salman the “father of the sugar mafia”. Faraz was addressing a press conference.
• Thirty-one of Balochistan districts are facing severe financial crises after crops were destroyed by swarms of locusts. More locusts from South Africa are expected to attack fields across Pakistan in July.
• Former Olympic Boxing champion Abdul Rashid Qambrani is forcedto work as a security guard for a company to earn his livelihood. He regrets not playing for Australia and choosing to stay in Pakistan when he got offers from other countries to box for them.

from SAMAA https://ift.tt/2ZLWWxX