Daily Times

Markets are tumbling once again all over the world this week as a new, mutated form of the coronavirus appeared in the United Kingdom (UK) and there are fears that it could have travelled into the European continent. That is why practically all countries have suspended travel to and from the UK, which has also brought a great amount of commercial activity to a sudden halt. Remember this has happened when the second wave of the virus has already forced resort to curfews and lockdowns in countries like Germany, France and Spain. Now the greatest fear, in addition to the prospect of a lot more lives being lost, is further damage to the global economy. If the rich countries come to their knees and need emergency funding from premier lending institutions, then what are the poor countries going to do when all the available lendable money is dried up?There’s also the vaccine to worry about. News of the mutated virus took the air out of the euphoria triggered by the rollout of the vaccine in a few countries. Now experts have to go back to their laboratories and see if the new strain is resistant to the miracle cure that has just been developed. And if it is, then all bets are off and everybody would have to revise their calculations about everything. It is, according to reports, 70 percent more transmissible and at a time when the second wave has already overwhelmed the whole world with its rapid spread there’s no telling how much darker this night could get before dawn breaks out.Needless to say of course that such circumstances require extreme caution. Pakistan did better than most countries in the first few months of the pandemic but then let all the gains slip away because the people just refused to follow safety protocols. And now, as a result, the country is struggling to manage the second wave. Authorities acted quickly to suspend all travel links with UK for the time being, but the prospect of the new form of the virus reaching here cannot realistically be ruled out. At the end of the day, it is up to the people to manage this crisis. How they behave will determine our fate. *