Daily Times

If data is anything, the COVID-19 situation in Pakistan is improving but if SOPs are violated at a larger scale, the ugly virus could make a comeback to wreak havoc as it has been doing in its neighbours. In this regard, the coming month of Muharram is an event when mass congregations are arranged in imambargahs and on roads. The government has urged the mourners to follow SOPs under which they are to maintain social distancing, bar the entrance of children and aged people to gathering and disinfect the premises of congregation. Also, the government is going to conduct the COCVID-19 test of zakreen and security volunteers. These are good efforts to fight the virus. Right now, positivity in rate as per tests in Pakistan is around three per cent, which used to be 25 per cent in June whereas it is 9.4 per cent in Iran, 9.8 per cent in India and 23-25 per cent in Bangladesh. The data shows that all neighbours are multiple times ahead of Pakistan, of them, the number of positive cases in India is seven times higher than Pakistan — almost 2.3 million — while in Iran, over 331,000 cases have been reported. Similarly, Pakistan has defeated the death rate stemming from COVID-19 related issues, as in India, 33 deaths per million people have been recorded, whereas there are 28 deaths per million in Pakistan. The ratio in Afghanistan is 34 deaths per million.

“If we compare the number of deaths over the last 10 to 12 days, Iran has reported 20 times more deaths in comparison to Pakistan while India has recorded around four to five times more deaths. If we look at the figures for Monday, India has had 10 times more fatalities than Pakistan,” Asad Umar says, which means the virus is on its way out, for the government as well as the people should be appreciated.

But this does not mean that the virus has been controlled; it can rise again. As per the National Command and Operation Centre observation, people are showing laxity towards standard operating procedures, especially at tourist spots which recently reopened. The government has been forced to lift lockdown restrictions due to economic restrictions. Lockdown hurt the country’s exports, falling them to around 40pc, which is equal to 40pc employment in the country. It is time the public kept on following precautions and wore masks and maintained distance. *