Daily Times

The steadily growing COVID-19 pandemicis globally exposinga vulnerable state of mankind. The pandemichas transformed the understanding of the human beings regarding social behavior, business, economy, medical science and emerging technologies. In the timeto come, global awareness to collectively defeat such lethal natural disasters shall be vital.

The pandemic in Pakistan has seen a three-month evolution period. In countries like China, Japan and New Zealand the three-month duration has been sufficient to control and suppress the COVID-19 pandemic. In contrast, there are other countries like USA, Brazil and Italy which have experienced a severe blow to life and economy due to COVID-19, withoutcontrolling it in the three month period.

Impact point,an important parameter in restricting the growth of a pandemic, is themeasure of the time when the government policies impact on the spread of the pandemic andthus change the course of its free evolution. The impact point also corresponds to the psychological threshold of people understanding about the seriousness of the pandemic. Following the reported data in China and Japan the impact point appeared, respectively, after one thousand and one hundred confirmed cases, whereas in USA the impact point cameafter one hundred thousand cases. The variation in impact point is related to socio-political environment and readiness of the country to fight against the pandemic,thus causing a variation in associated fatality rate and destabilizing economy.

In Pakistan the data analysis indicates that the impact point has not reached after one hundred thousand confirmed cases and more than two thousands deaths. This is an alarming situation and tantamount to a bigger disaster when compared with USA, indicating the size of this pandemic in Pakistanmay become as large as two million confirmed cases.

We need to integrate and intensify the strategies to eradicate the pandemic, practiced in the countries such as Japan and China, including evidence based measures in addition to general precautions and existing SOPs

The presently taken steps by the democratically elected government are panic ridden causing loss of life as well as economy. The ongoing policies have already missed chances to effectively suppress the pandemic at a lesser cost both in time and in investment. This brings us to answer the crucial question, what shall be the optimal line-of action to eradicate the COVID-19 from our country, saving both life and economy, in the coming months?

Present exponential growth rate of the COVID19 pandemic in Pakistan, as calculated analytically, is almost the same as it was before introducing any lock down in the country. Nevertheless, we need to integrate and intensify the strategies to eradicate the pandemic, practiced in the countries such as Japan and China, including evidence based measures in addition to general precautions and existing SOPs.

We find a good opportunity in the COVID-19 pandemic to develop purpose oriented research culture. We need to realize the importance of science and technology necessary to answer the latest challenges. Numerous areasrelated to health sciences, automation, computer science, motion sensors, security measures etc.are to be introduced and developed indigenously. In order to save our country from natural disasters and newer international challenges we need to invest in biomedical technology, artificial intelligence, robot and cobot technology, quantum computation and nanotechnology, on war footing.

At this crucial time, we need to show a national coherence andpresent ourselves as a disciplined nation able to respond to any threat to its existence collectively. The positive impact of the current situation, is an opportunity for us to get trained in our general daily life and enforce discipline in markets, transportation, restaurants and work place. The basic teachings related to cleanliness are to be rightly applauded as we take strict measures on individual levels to improve civic conditions, thus improving our own health and safety and that of our dear ones.

The writer is a Pride of Performance, Salam Prize, Associate Member ICTP, Fulbright Fellow, Chancellor’s Gold medal for first position in MSc, Gold medal from Pakistan Academy of Science, The World Academy of Science Award