Father Aldino Amato at Our Lady of Mercy parish house in Okara in December 2017. Photo courtesy: Kamran Chaudhry/UCA News
Aldino Amato, a respected Italian-born Dominican priest, died after contracting the coronavirus at a hospital in Lahore, the
UCA News (Union of Catholic Asian News) portal reported on Monday.
The 90-year-old priest was laid to rest in a grave he built for himself in the compound of Our Lady of Mercy parish house in Punjab s Okara 6 Chak village.
An education and development pioneer, Amato served Pakistan for nearly six decades.
Amato, the last foreign missionary of the Faisalabad Diocese, passed away on May 1 in Lahore, where he was put on a ventilator for 10 days after testing positive for Covid-19.
Pakistan restricts travel from Iran, Afghanistan
Planes sit on the tarmac at the newly built Islamabad International Airport on May 8, 2018 [AAMIR QURESHI/AFP via Getty Images] May 2, 2021 at 3:06 pm
Pakistan on Sunday banned inbound pedestrian movement from neighboring Iran and Afghanistan in an attempt to contain the spread of coronavirus,
Anadolu Agency reported.
The decision that will be effective from May 4-20 was taken at a meeting of the National Command and Operation Center, a government agency that deals with the country s anti-virus strategy, in the capital Islamabad with Planning Minister Asad Umar in the chair.
Pakistani nationals and people with extreme emergency medical cases, however, will be allowed to enter the country from both states. All outbound pedestrian movement will be permissible.
5,360 Covid-19 patients in critical care in Pakistan: Asad Umar
Says government has been increasing capacity SAMAA | Health - Posted: Apr 30, 2021 | Last Updated: 7 hours ago SAMAA | Health Posted: Apr 30, 2021 | Last Updated: 7 hours ago
The total number of COVID-19 patients in critical care is 57% higher than during the peak in June last year, but the situation has not become as dire because the government has been increasing capacity, said Planning Minister Asad Umar on Friday.
There were 5,360 patients in critical care on Thursday, he said on Twitter.
So far, the healthcare system has been able to manage because oxygen production, cylinders and beds have been increased across the country.
The writer is a business and economy journalist.
THIS is not how it’s done. Anybody who has ever worked on completing a large task will tell you that you are supposed to anticipate the challenges that will come your way, not wait for them to materialise and then mobilise in a hurry. It is not rocket science. It is basic management.
I read with disbelief a story that is still working its way through the news flow this week that shows how this government is still not managing the Covid crisis, they are muddling through it, despite almost one year since it began. A few days ago it was reported that the National Engineers Welfare Association (NEWA) wrote a letter to the prime minister telling him about two oxygen-producing plants at the Steel Mill in Karachi that have been lying idle since 2015.
Exams put off till June 15
Exams across the country postponed till June 15
Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood addressing a presser following a meeting of NCOC in Islamabad on March 24, 2021. SCREENGRAB
The federal government has announced more stringent measures to turn the tide of the third wave of Covid-19, postponing all exams till June 15, and banning tourism, closing shopping malls and parks, and shutting down inter-city as well as inter-provincial transport over the Eidul Fitr holidays next month.
The decisions were taken a meeting of the education and health ministers at the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) which serves as the nerve centre of the government’s unified effort against the pandemic.