Federal Planning Minister Asad Umar has sounded a very timely alarm about the Omicron variant of the coronavirus making its way to Pakistan in a matter of weeks. Therefore there’s still time to prepare for the inevitable invasion of this new variant that has already sent financial markets into a tailspin all over the world and renewed calls for lockdowns in a number of countries, especially in Africa. Everybody knows that the only way of staying ahead of the curve in these matters is exercising vigilance and ensuring strict adherence to all standard operating procedures (SOPs) clearly spelled out by the government. After being initially overwhelmed by the first wave of the coronavirus last year, Pakistan has done a better job than most countries of keeping new infections and deaths in check. That enabled us to keep the economy running very consistently after the first complete lockdown, which is why our producers were able to pick up export orders lost to others that couldn’t open up so quickly. All this was made possible mainly because of the data-driven approach adopted by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), which was able to identify and isolate hot areas in real time and restrict the damage. Now, however, NCOC’s precision will be needed once again. It cannot be stressed enough, of course, that all sorts of measures are doomed to fail unless the public acts responsibly and follows the government’s directions at all times. The new variant is much more contagious and also lethal than all those that came before it, so individual effort is going to be the real game-changer. All we need to do is make sure that all people follow all the rules at all times. If the spread can be controlled initially, there should be no need for widespread shutter downs. It’s all the more important to avoid any mistakes now, when the economy is poised on a knife-edge and the government is desperately trying to revive the IMF program. All bets would be off if the virus does too much damage to keep the economy up and running. That’s precisely why Asad Umar’s warning should be taken very seriously. *