- Must move forward with extreme caution
With a significant reduction in the daily number of new cases and deaths along with increased hospital capacities being reported across the country, one can say, with cautious optimism, that Pakistan may have gotten a grip over the Coronavirus pandemic. At 20, yesterday’s daily death number was the lowest in three months, from a peak of 153 that was reached mid-June when the pandemic’s infectiousness and lethality ravaged the country with a positivity rate at a dangerous 23 percent that has now receded to only 7 percent. It remains unclear how Pakistan has been able to come out of the crisis and defy some frightening projections given how the PTI government’s initial response to the pandemic was simply abysmal. The Taftan and Raiwand debacles allowed the virus to spread beyond reasonable control and by the time the government got out of its denial phase, it was too late. Prime Minister Imran Khan and his cabinet members could be regularly seen without face masks, sending out a very confusing message to the general population that was expected to follow the so-called SOPs that included covering one’s face in public. Allowing markets to remain open on Eid-ul-Fitr was another misstep that cost lives. The much-hyped ‘Smart Lockdown’ that essentially entailed limiting the operating hours of markets was peddled as some sort of miracle policy envisioned by Pakistan even though, from a strictly scientific viewpoint, it achieved little. Whether the country has been blessed with a less contagious strain of the virus or there is some innate exclusive immunity present in our population, or both, no one really knows. But one thing remains clear: if past mistakes are repeated, a second wave will surely come and wreak havoc, undoing this fragile remission of a deadly virus that we are experiencing.
It was heartening to hear the PM reiterating multiple times the need for extreme caution during the two upcoming major religious holidays, Eid-ul-Azha and Muharram, warning of a recurrence if there is complacency. That this message is accompanied by a week-long ‘Smart lockdown’ starting today, across Punjab, shows that the government is being careful. Any celebration, chest thumping or political point scoring would be premature and ill-advised at this juncture. If indeed the numbers continue to follow this downward trajectory in the coming months, only then should there be any proclamation of victory.