- Sindh does, the country does not
While Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah duly announced a lockdown of the province to stop the spread of COVID-19, Prime Minister Imran Khan did not. However, he apparently felt his refraining from doing so needed to be explained, something he did in a televised address. The reason he gave was that he did not want daily wagers to face problems. He also admitted the government could not provide food to people who went into lockdown, as was done in China, Italy, the UK or the USA. However, while Mr Khan refused to impose a lockdown, he called for citizens to practise self-isolation and to quarantine themselves at home.
The federal government is apparently ignoring the dire examples of Iran and Italy, which imposed lockdowns too late, and witnessed a sudden upsurge in cases, so much so that Iran has experienced 1785 deaths and spread the disease in the region, such as to Pakistan. Italy has experienced more deaths than China itself, with over 3200. China had actually brought the epidemic under some sort of control by imposing a stringent lockdown, but has paid the terrible cost of over 81,000 of the world’s 300,000+ cases, not to mention those who died.
Mr Khan did not mention it, but countries which have been hit in the West have all given some sort of relief package so as to reduce the economic impact. That is something on which Mr Khan was silent, and something Mr Shah did not mention. He mentioned the need for people to listen to government recommendations of social distancing and self-isolation. However, the recent incident in Karachi, where a woman attended a wedding even though she was suffering from the disease, and infected nine others, is not very hopeful. The rapidity with which it has been spreading unless it has been defeated by draconian measures indicates that Mr Khan might find himself forced to order a lockdown later on, after many more lose their lives. Meanwhile, the KP government’s closing of shopping malls, and the Punjab’s calling in the Army, indicates that Mr Khan may have his hand forced by his own party.
