Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan speaks during an international conference on the future of Afghan refugees living in Pakistan, organized by Pakistan and the UN Refugee Agency in Islamabad, Pakistan on February 17, 2020. (REUTERS File Photo)
Islamabad, July 8 (PTI): Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday urged the world community to share information on their strategies to deal with the coronavirus, as the country's COVID-19 death toll reached near 5,000-mark.
Addressing a virtual summit of the International Labour Organisation, Khan said that the constant exchange of ideas will help soften the coronavirus impact on labourers.
He said that the entire world was praying for a vaccine but "uncertainty prevails" in the meantime and countries need to adopt a joint strategy for protecting labourers.
Khan said that the small and medium industries were the most vulnerable and they also employ the maximum workers. He said the countries should have a sympathetic attitude towards poor workers.
He also mentioned the steps taken by Pakistan to help those affected by the virus.
"When we enforced a lockdown, the vulnerable people, labourers became unemployed and had no way to feed their families. We then came up with a 'smart lockdown' strategy, he said.
Khan said that his government also provided direct money to the poor people.
Meanwhile, the number of coronavirus cases in Pakistan rose to 239,225 on Wednesday. So far 4,945 people have died due to to coronavirus.
The situation of recoveries was getting better and so far 140, 965 patients fully recuperated, the health ministry said.
Out of the total 239,225 infections, Sindh has 99,362 cases, Punjab 83,599, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa 28,681, Islamabad 13,659, Balochistan 10,919, Gilgit-Baltistan 1,595 and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir 1,419 cases.
The authorities have so far conducted 1,467,104 tests, including 21,951 in the last 24 hours.
