Pakistan Rolls Out Largest Social Assistance Program In Nation's History To Tackle Covid-19: CNN

ISLAMABAD, Apr 9 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 9th Apr, 2020 ) :Pakistan launched the largest social protection effort in the country's history on Thursday with plans to pay close to $1 billion to the country's poorest in an effort to counter the economic fallout of the Covid-19 crisis, US news channel CNN said in a report.

"The�Ehsaas Emergency Cash program is a financial assistance effort to assist parts of the population that have been worst hit by the ongoing lockdown in the country, according to Sania Nishtar, Special Assistant to Prime Minister Imran Khan on Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety," the report published on the web edition of CNN said.

The program, which aims to cover 12 million families, is meant to assist them to "buy rations so that they don't go hungry."According to the CNN report, authorities have used SMS messages and National Identity Card numbers from the country's extensive National Database & Registration Authority to identify and contact eligible families.

As of Thursday, according to the Ministry of Health, the number of confirmed cases in Pakistan is now 4,414, with 63 people dead, the report added.