Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Friday took an act on its own a suo moto in legal terms over the government’s strategy to curb the fast-rising coronavirus cases in the country, court record, and local media reported.<\/p>\n
A five-judge bench of the top court headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed will start the hearing of the suo moto from April 13 in the capital Islamabad, local broadcaster.<\/p>\n
This is the first ever suo moto taken by Justice Ahmed since he took oath as the chief justice last December.<\/p>\n
The judges summoned the attorney general, and the federal secretaries for home, and health affairs seeking explanation on the government’s strategy, and ongoing efforts to tackle the COVID-19 or coronavirus outbreak in the country.<\/p>\n
Last week, the chief justice expressed his displeasure over the government’s strategy, particularly closure of outdoor patient\u2019s facilities at all the public sector hospitals to ward off the virus spread.<\/p>\n
In a related development, the Sindh High Court in the port city of Karachi dismissed a petition seeking lifting of ban on Friday prayers.<\/p>\n
The judges declared that the ban had been imposed after consulting the religious scholars, and in line with a similar action taken by almost all the Muslim countries, including Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n
The number of coronavirus cases has reached 4,688, of which almost 50% reported from northeastern Punjab, the country’s most populous province. Some 68 people, including three doctors have died from coronavirus, whereas 727 patients have recovered, according to the Health Ministry statistics.<\/p>\n
The country has been under a weeks-long lockdown with all the educational institutes, shopping centers, markets, and the government offices, except for emergency services, remain closed.<\/p>\n
Since appearing in Wuhan, China, last December, the novel coronavirus has spread to at least 185 countries and regions.<\/p>\n
Data compiled by the U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University shows worldwide infections surpassed 1.61 million, with the death toll above 96,700, while more than 361,300 people have recovered so far.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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