What did you do today against coronavirus? President urges people to share with #iFightCorona
'I want all of you to also share, anywhere on social media, what you did as your responsibility as part of this nation,' he said
March 15, 2020
KARACHI: President Dr Arif Alvi on Sunday urged people of Pakistan to talk about what they were doing everyday to fight the coronavirus pandemic, which has so far infected at least 52 people throughout the country.
In a video he shared on Twitter, the president wrote how he had to battle coronavirus in his house and "recruit every family member, relation & friend as a soldier".
He said: "With regard to coronavirus, I had shared a hadith of Prophet (PBUH) at the end of January, in which he advises against entering a land where there has been an outbreak of a plague and also against leaving the land if one is stuck there when the outbreak occurs.
"Given how it has been spreading, I have decided that this battle is my own. I'm not even talking about others; I'm also not talking about which government is doing what because when there's a likelihood of this 'storm' entering every household.
"When I decided that this war is my own, I have decided to share what I have done so far," he said, explaining how he ended up shaking hands with 4-5 people a day earlier and realised what he did midway while shaking hands with them.
"But I was embarrassed of what would happen had I refrained from shaking hands with those poor people. So I decided that should such a situation arise in the future, I would tell them myself how to greet and not shake hands," he added.
Dr Alvi explained that the chain with which he planned to protect himself was as strong as its weakest link.
"First off, I'd like to explain how to wash hands and why it's so important to wash hands," the president said. "People are washing their hands not because [coronavirus] could infect them from the air; coronavirus is not in the air.
"It can spread from the sneezing of someone nearby or through the droplets from their sneeze or cough. From there, it can spread from hand to hand. Therefore, wash hands every hour or two," he stated.
The president also said that he would keep updating everyone about what he was doing to fight coronavirus everyday. Further, "I want all of you to also share, anywhere on social media, what you did as your responsibility as part of this nation, this Muslim nation", he added.
"The whole nation should bear this responsibility."
