'Eating locusts can cure COVID': Pak leader's proposal in Parliament breaks the internet

Facing the problematic issue of locusts and the COVID-19 crisis, Pakistan's Member of Parliament Riaz Fatyana has come up with a 'one-stop' solution to help the country combat these issues. Addressing the Parliament, Fatyana claimed that eating locusts can cure Coronavirus and if a person is not infected then it improves the individual's immunity. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader also went on to say that if this is proven with research, then the Pakistani government does not have to deal with locusts and that the citizens will itself solve the issue. 

"Coronavirus can be cured by eating locusts. If the research can be done and it is proven to true that eating locusts can generate Coronavirus antibodies, then the people of Pakistan will themselves solve the issue of locusts and the government will not have to do much," Fatyana said while addressing the Parliament. 

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Netizens had a field day over this suggestion made in the Pakistan Parliament, here are some reactions-

 

'Out-of-the-box proposal'

Recently, according to Pakistan media reports, Imran Khan's government has endorsed a plan to help tackle the country's locust plague by encouraging people to catch the voracious pests and sell them as chicken feed. 

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A report in Dawn newspaper said PM Imran Khan while chairing a meeting of the federal cabinet on Tuesday, endorsed an "out-of-the-box proposal" for dealing with the locust threat in the country under which people would be given financial incentives for catching locusts and encouraged to sell these insects to poultry farmers who could use them as poultry feed at a rate of Rs15 per kilogram.

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Pakistan is facing its worst locust infestation in a generation as marauding swarms have caused widespread damage in the Middle East, East Africa and South Asia. The United Nations has warned that fresh swarms are on their way from Iran or East Africa. Federal Information Minister Shibli Faraz told Dawn that Khan “wanted to turn the crisis into an opportunity, therefore, he approved a plan of catching and selling locusts”.

The report also states that Khan was apprised that recently the plan of catching and selling locusts for Rs 15 per kg was implemented in Okara. According to PTV, locust swarms have attacked 31 districts in Baluchistan, 10 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, four in Punjab and seven in Sindh.

WATCH: Locals Fight Locusts By Clanging Utensils & Bursting Crackers; Admins Prep Drones