The world hit 20 million coronavirus cases a week ago — that’s almost double the population of Sweden. The worst hit country is the US with more than 5 million reported cases. Countries like France, Italy, Spain and others that were previously adversely affected by the pandemic have been successful in flattening the curve and are now on the path to recovery.
If we draw a comparison of how the pandemic hit or affected different countries, we can observe an interesting variation. For example, on Sunday, while the US was reporting a hefty number of positive cases reported in a single day, New Zealand celebrated 100 days of zero local transmission. The two neighbours Pakistan and India are also witnessing quite contrasting scenarios. Even though Pakistan’s coronavirus cases started surging right after Eid-ul Fitr, the spread miraculously started seeing a decline, a situation even the experts are unable to comprehend. In contrast, India is still struggling to flatten the curve as the number of cases in the country grow exponentially.
However, regardless of whether a country has or has not successfully dealt with this deadly pandemic, we must not be complacent as a second wave could very well be just around the corner. It’s still as important, if not more, to follow all the precautionary measures and SOP as it was before.
Aqib Sikandar
Gujrat
Published in The Express Tribune, August 17th, 2020.
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