Daily Times

In the light of the situation so far, it has been getting proved that fight instead of fearing coronavirus is apparently a flop theory. In a developing country like Pakistan, this theory has made people accustomed to carelessness. Fear somehow keeps ones in cautious mode, while fearlessness is such a driving force that gradually leads the person towards the dangerous zone one doesn’t expect.

A section of religious-minded believe that COVID-19 is a conspiracy hatched by non-Muslims to keep believers from worshiping at mosques and following their religion. While another section from rural backgrounds and the lower middle class presumes that the government is trying to show more fatalities in order to collect money from international aid agencies and donor countries. The rest who are convinced that fight instead fearing, are risking their lives without any precautions.

At the outset of the outbreak, Khan’s government remained in unresponsive attitude on novel coronavirus and since Pakistan registered its first coronavirus case, an atmosphere of fear was created among the people that fight instead of fearing coronavirus. This provided enough ground for the common people to respond frivolously to the deadly virus. As a result, the government has yet to come out with a unified statement and an orderly policy to inform, educate, and protect the masses. Instead, the public tends to follow dangerously fatalist and superstitious approaches rather than paying heed to science and health experts.

In this regard, Pakistan’s central & provincial leadership, opposition, religious units and the common people of Pakistan, in fact have failed to go beyond just chalking out a unified strategy, superstition, stubbornness of the virus and tried to score political mileage by coming out with the usual bravado. Whether it is effective health care or food provision, the government has failed in both respects. Ordering a lockdown and ignoring the consequences without comprehensive measures is tantamount to plunging the people into a quagmire of hunger.

Mysterious coronavirus has so far affected almost all countries and more than 50 million people around the world. This series of this catastrophic virus outbreaks is still ongoing at various stages. Worldwide governments in a context of uncertainty, not only are trying their best to curb the virus but also facing with difficult trade-offs, health, economic and social challenges. By spring 2020, more than half of the world’s population had experienced a lockdown with strong containment measures.

As of Friday, nationwide tally of Covid-19 patients stands at 3,000 as the second wave of infection spreads across the country. According to the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC), bringing the total tally to 392,356. As government has recently announced preventive and precautionary measures to counter the resurgence of COVID-19 cases, like ban on all political, social and religious gatherings, obligation of wearing a mask in public places, shutting down of malls, markets and restaurants by early evening Closure of educational institutions is under consideration. Similarly, as an exit strategy the the government has also announced approval of US$ 150 million for the procurement of COVID vaccine for 5 % of the country’s population.