As the government decided to ease the lockdown, they reaped the bitter harvest of their decision
KARACHI: As the government decided to ease the lockdown, they reaped the bitter harvest of their decision. The infections from Covid-19 have started to surged on a daily basis. To date, the fatalities from the virus have exacerbated to more than 3,380.
The hike in the cases were expected because of the government’s ambivalence with the lockdown decision followed by a prolonged intervention after the outbreak. Then the early relaxing of the lockdown after it was enforced made it evident that no strict measures were to be taken. The result today, unfortunately, is in front of us. At a time when global lessons teach us that the effective way to mitigate the spread of virus is to contain its spread, the government’s repeated statements opposing the idea of a complete lockdown will obviously be counter-intuitive. Thus, it becomes difficult to encourage people to comply with the required SOPs even during a self-styled smart lockdown phase. Assessing the worsening situation of Covid-19 in Pakistan, a country now in the list of the leading ten nations who have recorded the highest number of cases, the WHO has given regimental suggestion of enforcing a two-week lockdown. Moreover, as per the letter addressed to the authorities, the WHO representative deemed that Pakistan has not complied with any of the perquisites for opening the lockdown.
The government needs to realise that the burden of its indecisions will prove onerous in times to come as people face the health crisis that is now entering into a more perilous phase.
Hadia Mukhtar
Published in The Express Tribune, June 23rd, 2020.
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