LAHORE                 -                Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President and National Assembly Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif has demanded that coronavirus testing should be made free of cost.

In a statement, the PML-N president said that patients found suffering from coronavirus must be immediately removed from the mainstream to quarantine centres. He said that hospitals, marriage halls, schools, colleges and mosques should be used as quarantine facilities for the time being.

“Coronavirus testing should be made free of cost with immediate effect” he demanded, adding that data regarding screening and corona testing of people should be made public as hiding the facts would not resolve and would rather complicate the issue.

He appealed the nation to follow the guidelines given to them by the incumbent government in order to combat the spread of COVID-19.

Earlier, Shehbaz Sharif directed the PML-N’s elected representatives to help with efforts to deal with the pandemic in their areas. He said that the PML-N would continue to support the doctors and paramedics in their fight against the coronavirus. He said the distribution of 10,000 safety kits and masks among doctors treating coronavirus patients in Punjab province was a step towards this end. He said that Pakistan had faced bigger challenges in the past and would come of this crisis as well.

Shehbaz Sharif said that he was in London with his ailing brother Nawaz Sharif but decided to return back to Pakistan after witnessing a surge in coronavirus cases.