Daily Times

The coronavirus is spreading its deadly outreach to other countries from China, making Pakistan the most vulnerable for it is neighbour to China and Iran, two virus-hit countries. After the discovery of the coronavirus in Iran, the Balochistan government has issued an alert to bordering districts Iran to contain traffic. World Health Organisation director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has warned the world about efforts to containing the virus that “the window of opportunity is narrowing.” Given the number of virus-hit people outside China, it is evident that the outbreak can still go in any direction. In recent days, several countries have reported a sharp increase of coronavirus cases, particularly South Korea, Italy, Japan and Iran. So far, China has reported more than 77,000 cases, while the global death toll has reached 2,372, and of them, 17 deaths were reported outside mainland China, including five in Iran. In fact, deaths in Iran have worried the Balochistan government because of the heavy traffic at the Tuftan point between the two countries. Iran says the likely source of the virus to their country is a Chinese engineer, who recently came from China. The Balochistan government has established a control room at Tuftan, and has started screening people, mostly pilgrims, coming from Iran, but the governments needs to do more.

It is also imperative that the government holds talks with the parents of stranded students in China, who are insisting on their repatriation. In this space, we had recommended to bring them back weeks ago. It is too late now. The parents need to understand the sensitivity of the matter. Pakistan is ill-equipped to manage an outbreak if the virus is transmitted to the country through these students. It is time the global community launched a joint struggle to contain the virus and find a vaccine for it. It is good to see that new cases are declining in China, and several dozens have recovered. But an effective cure to the virus has yet to be found. The world should hurry because time is running out. *