Waste pickers across Pakistan remain vulnerable to coronavirus spread

Karachi (HRNW) People across the country are being advised and facilitated for precautionary measures against the novel coronavirus. One section of the society, however, still remains highly vulnerable to it: the waster pickers.

Young men and women are usually seen near the trash cans picking and sorting trash. These people are still performing their jobs but without any safety measures.

According to them, they don’t have masks, gloves or hand sanitisers. “No one has approached us or even thought about us,” a waste picker said. “We can’t leave our jobs, but coming here is a threat to us as well.”

He added that most of them do have their identity cards but don’t know how to go about to get aid from the government through the Ehsaas Programme.

Residents across the country have requested the government to help them as they could pose threats to other people around them as well.