Shehbaz blames rise in COVID-19 cases on absence of strategy

LAHORE: Had there been a strategy in place at the time of the imposition of lockdown or when the decision was taken to lift it, the number of COVID-19 cases in the country would not have increased at such a rapid rate, said PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday. 

According to a statement posted by the PML-N's official Twitter account, the former Punjab chief minister called on the government to "not waste more time" in creating an effective national strategy to cope with the coronavirus. 

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"The nation should be informed about the testing data and what strategy is in place to stem the spread of the coronavirus," he said. 

The statement from Shehbaz came at a time when the number of coronavirus cases in the province crossed 57,000 and more than 1,100 people died in Pakistan. 

The PML-N has, on frequent occasions, blamed the government for the rising number of coronavirus cases in the country and said that the Centre does not have a strategy in place to deal with the pandemic.