The World Health Organization has officially declared the outbreak a pandemic. In this scenario, government forced a lockdown in all regions of the country for up to approximately two weeks. Currently, in order to tackle the situation, an economic relief package of Rs 900 billion ($5.6 billion) was approved by the Prime Minister on March 24. Out of this, Rs 200 billion ($1.25 billion) are assigned for low income groups, particularly for laborers, along with Rs 280 billion ($1.76 billion) for wheat procurement. The cost includes the aforementioned economic downfall through the nationwide lockdown whereas the benefit will be in terms of reduction in COVID-19 positive cases and a lower number of fatalities.

Source: Pakistan Today April 02, 2020 18:11 UTC