- The claims and the reality
Despite the coronavirus having killed 335 people in Pakistan so far, Prime Minister Khan insists the pandemic’s intensity is still low compared to other countries. While this might be true if Pakistan is compared to the USA and European countries, but the situation looks highly serious if compared to the countries of the region. Total coronavirus deaths in Bangladesh yesterday were 155, in Sri Lanka seven, in Myanmar six, and in Nepal zero. India with an almost five times larger population than Pakistan had over 1,000 pandemic deaths compared to Pakistan’s 335 which constituted nearly one third. This should make the policymakers worry about the situation instead of exulting over it.
Political exigencies have led the government to understate the seriousness of the situation. Mr Khan issued his first public statement on the coronavirus pandemic as late as March 14. This was despite the fact that governments in Gilgit-Baltistan and Balochistan had sent alarming signals to Islamabad towards the end of January emphasizing its fallout. In contrast, the Sindh government announced its strategy to deal with the pandemic and set up a task force a day after the first coronavirus positive case was reported on February 26. After that it held daily meetings of the task force presided over by CM. Its proactive posture won praise even from sections of media that had so far been highly critical of its policies.
One had expected that the formation of the National Coordination and Operations Centre (NCOC) would put an end to the politicisation of the issue. This has however failed to happen. While the National Disaster Management Authority Chairman promised to carry out 50,000 tests daily within a week, one hears that the number has in fact been slashed in the provinces ruled by the PTI. Meanwhile Health SAPM Dr Zafar Mirza has claimed that daily deaths being reported in Pakistan were on the same level for two weeks, which he said is a good trend.
This has led PPP MNA Nafisa Shah to claim that reducing the tests was intended to ‘artificially flatten the curve’ giving a false sense of security to the people of other provinces. Further that this was meant to blame Sindh for having the highest number of cases. There is a need on the part of the NCOC to remove the suspicions.
