Daily Times

COVID-19, commonly known as Coronavirus, continues to take lives across the globe. The US tops the list of sufferers with almost 200,000 confirmed cases and more than 20,000 deaths till the Saturday night. Italy and Spain had already fallen on their knees. Technically advanced countries and the leading economic powers in Europe and other parts of the world are trying to slow down the spread of the virus. They are vigorously and religiously taking strict measures by locking down their people at their homes, closing down their public places, ensuring rapid and wide testing of the suspects, effectively quarantining the infected ones, observing social distancing, and having disinfection sprays in markets, streets, houses and offices. Almost every essential working office has gone to virtual operations. Every working place is dormant now. More concentration is on to stopping the spread of the virus. Not only the developed world and leading economies, even the countries facing similar conditions as Pakistan are taking all possible measures to save lives of their citizens. They have announced relief packages for different social strata and incentives for the economic tiers. Even some of the emerging economies have waived the utility bills off their citizens.

Just take the example of Nepal – “officially, there have been only five coronavirus cases in Nepal. But despite the tiny numbers, the country entered full lockdown on March 24 for at least a week-a decision the government made after finding only the second case, a Nepali student arriving home from France via Qatar. Flights and long-distance buses have been suspended, and the country’s borders are sealed-even to its own citizens”, reported the international media outlet ‘Foreign Policy’ on March 31, 2020.

While making any decision on Monday to continue lockdown, discontinue or relax it, the NCC especially the federal government (Prime Minister Imran Khan) should take note of the worsened situation in the technically advanced countries

Since then, strict lockdown continued in Nepal. Their government suspended all international flights and intercity transport, and their public supported the government decision despite being a weaker economy in the South Asia region. Their annual per capita income is 55 per cent of the Pakistan’s average annual per capita income, and their poverty-line is much higher than Pakistan – it means many more Nepali people live in the extreme poverty while 90 per cent of the Nepal economy is based on the international tourism only. They had no hesitation but to go for a strict shutdown of their borders and complete inland lockdown enforced through police force quite effectively. Nepal government has also successfully negotiated and signed a fast-track US$29 million agreement with the World Bank on April 7, 2020 – a COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health Systems Preparedness Project. By Saturday night (April 11, 2020), Nepal has 9 cases and one death; Sri Lanka 198 cases and seven deaths; Afghanistan 555 cases and 18 deaths; and Bangladesh 424 cases and 27 deaths. India tops in the South Asia with 8,036 cases and 249 deaths while Pakistan stands second with 4,970 cases and 77 deaths. The statistics show that both India and Pakistan failed to implement timely shutdown of their borders and ensure complete and strict lockdown for many reasons including political scoring and religiously anomaly.

Being 33rd on the WHO list of COVID-19 most affected countries, Pakistan still has the chance to behave more rationally and needs to harmonize its policy and action regime to win against the virus. Federal government has been found reluctant in taking more bold and strict measures in combatting the COVID-19 unfortunately for the reasons best known to them alone. Lockdown was unduly delayed, and implemented in weaker manner. Indecisiveness on what to do and what not showed the incompetence of the federal government that could not take the provinces and other stakeholders on the same page in time. Rather showed stubbornness on their sluggish response against the menace. Government of Sindh that led the lockdown of their province quite effectively later felt bad taste in the mouth when the federal government locked their horn with the province instead of appreciating the lockdown and other measures before the federal authorities could do about it. Ironically, federal government also lagged behind the need of the hour in purchasing necessary media equipment and precautionary stuff as masks, attires and sanitizers. Inefficiency observed on borders and airports. Negligence found in the supply of testing kits, medical equipment and safety stuff even to the frontline ‘warriors’ – the medical teams and paramedics that resulted more than 150 doctors and medical staff to get infected from the virus. In Balochistan, the protesting doctors were baton-charged, dragged and sent to prison. Their only demand was to get medical kits and safety measures in the hospitals.

On Monday (April 13, 2020), Pakistan’s National Coordination Committee (NCC) will be meeting to review the lousily implemented lockdown and inefficiently executed combat against the COVID-19. Federal Minister Asad Umar, had of the National Command and Operation Centre, has said that the decision about continuing (or to discontinue) the lockdown would come on Monday, after consultation with the prime minister. At the same time the prime minister’s special advisor for health, Dr Zafar Mirza, has strictly warned against any sort of relaxation in the lockdown. In fact, he has said that restrictions on public movement and interaction should be further added to. There is the general tendency to think all will be well soon enough, considering that Pakistan has been spared the kind of outbreak that most other countries have had to deal with. But that is wrong thinking.

While making any decision on Monday to continue lockdown, discontinue or relax it, the NCC especially the federal government (Prime Minister Imran Khan) should take note of the worsened situation in the technically advanced countries. The only reason was they all delayed complete lockdown and suffered for their lousy decision. On the other hand, we can learn from the success story of China that implemented complete lockdown, provision of medical kits to its frontline warriors (doctors and paramedics), testing kits and generous spray of disinfectants in all over the affected places and cities, establishing well-equipped hospitals and quarantines, ensuring strict social distancing, and giving financial relief to its people.

Prime Minister Imran Khan, you can do it only if you get rid of your blue-eyed businessmen friends, hovering around you for their vested interest on the causalities and corpuses in the result of COVID-19 spread. This is the time for you to make wise but difficult decisions. Hunger can be controlled by social safety nets such as Ehsaas programme that has taken off. Several philanthropists have also started off their campaigns to reaching out the poor of the country. It would become a success story just by integrating the efforts through an app so that everyone could have information about the served marginalized population. Federal government and the NCC should take bold decisions to combat the coronavirus by strict measures before it is too late. Launch of the construction industry by relaxing the lockdown may be delayed until the situation improves. There would be ample time still to favour your favourites.

The writer is the Director Devcom-Pakistan, an Islamabad-based policy advocacy, strategic communication and outreach think tank. Email: devcom.pakistan@gmail.com, Twitter: @EmmayeSyed