Daily Times

The Covid-19 situation is well and truly out of control, not just in Pakistan but pretty much all over the world. The main problem in this country, at least, is people’s inability, rather unwillingness, to follow safety procedures at all times. Even now, when daily cases and deaths have risen to an alarming level, it is common to see most people at most times in public places without even face masks. If things go on like this and people continue to turn a blind eye to the government’s serious warnings, then there will be no choice but to implement a complete lockdown, as some countries have done, and it is going to have very severe consequences over here.

It will surely deliver the kiss of death to the economy. Daily wagers, domestic workers, even shopkeepers will see their earnings compromised in an instant and the real economy is going to need the kind of stimulus package that the government just doesn’t have money for right now, so it will once again have to go borrowing in the money market. The latest news about vaccinations doesn’t bring much comfort either. For, the process began smoothly enough to make headlines across the region, but seems to have run into a brick wall of sorts because there are suddenly supply bottlenecks and grave logistical issues are emerging which imply that it might well take a number of years for the entire country’s population to be covered.

One has only to look across the border at India to see what can happen if things continue to get worse. The eastern neighbour made the most unenviable kind of record just this Thursday when it recorded 314,835 new cases in one day, a record anywhere in the world. And since India mirrors, even surpasses, Pakistan in terms of isolation caused by extreme poverty that makes it almost impossible to approach proper medical treatment, everybody expects the real number to be much higher especially in the periphery where little credible information comes from even in normal, peaceful times.

The PM seems to think that calling in the army, to assist the police and other law enforcement agencies, to help implement SOPs at all times will do the trick. Yet, once again, in a country with such a large population it is virtually impossible for the state to observe, let alone influence, all the people all the time. So it is up to Pakistanis, at the end of the day, to keep Pakistan safe. So unless everybody steps up and plays a role, the situation is not going to get any better. And sadly in such circumstances if it doesn’t get any better then it gets much worse. *