Today’s outlook: Govt discusses lockdown extension, PML-N leaders meet

Here are some of the stories we are expecting to follow today (Wednesday):

• Planning Minister Asad Umar will chair a National Command and Operation Centre meeting to decide whether the countrywide lockdown due to the coronavirus spread will be extended or not. Information Minister Shibli Faraz says the chief ministers from all provinces will attend the meeting via video link.
• Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance Dr Hafeez Sheikh will head an Economic Coordination Committee meeting. The team will discuss a summary for the support price of cotton and a report on wheat procurement by the government.
• The federal cabinet has approved easing the lockdown after May 9 and reconstituting the National Commission for Minorities. Federal ministers have agreed to donate one month’s salary to the coronavirus relief fund.
• Punjab will see an ease in lockdown after May 9. Cloth shops have been allowed to reopen for six hours from May 10. They’ve been directed to strictly follow SOPs while dealing with the public.
• The PCB will issue a detailed verdict in cricketer Umar Akmal’s case. He was suspended by the board’s Disciplinary Panel after he failed to report an approach by a match fixer during the Pakistan Super League.
• All seven judges of the Islamabad High Court will resume hearing cases from today. The court was closed on May 2.
• PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif has summoned a party meeting to discuss the 18th Amendment and his summons to the NAB offices. PML-N Vice-President Maryam Nawaz is likely to attend.
• ICYMI: Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho says people with coronavirus are not going to the hospital at the right time. Click here to read the full story.

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