Daily Times

There just seems no end to all the bad news generated by the pandemic. That is because it is not going to go away till there is a breakthrough in the laboratory. And after periodic bits of news that allowed a little optimism on that front, which even spurred international financial markets to record peaks, it seems the air has gone out of the vaccine balloon at least for the time being. Meanwhile, since the virus is going nowhere anytime soon, it is busy spreading and causing what is now called a very strong second wave of Covid-19 in much of the world. Pakistan has been relatively safe so far, and the government gives its smart lockdown strategy all the credit for that part, yet latest figures are giving reasons to worry.

All this has kept international financial institutions on their toes, of course, since it is their job to take pulse of the global economy at all times. And needless to say that they have been revising all sorts of grim projections upwards ever since the pandemic came. The latest about East Asia and the Pacific region, along with China, is that it is going to grow at the slowest pace in more than half a century and up to 38 million people are set to be pushed back into poverty. This is happening even though China’s two percent GDP growth rate this year is the highest in the world and all other major economies are contracting and posting negative growth.

Going by these such shocking poverty statistics, it is clear that this pandemic is a problem that will echo across a generation, if not longer. Such findings are especially relevant for countries like Pakistan, which have been quite successful in controlling the spread of the virus so far, since another wave here can not only overwhelm medical facilities but also substantially add to the sea of poverty and cause all sorts of immediate and long term problems. Now that schools have also opened, the need for vigilance has increased greatly. Sadly most people visible on the streets seem to act as if the worst is already behind us and there is no way anybody can contract the virus now. It is precisely such behaviour that can jeopardise all the good work that has been done so far. And since it is the government’s responsibility to make sure that all is well at the end of the day, it must improve its outreach and warn very seriously about the harm that can come from complacency. *