The tip of the iceberg?

The coronavirus shows no signs of slowing down, with the death toll in China having exceeded one thousand. The severity of the situation has far surpassed that of the SARS epidemic. As many as 1,016 people have died; and out of the 42,000 people infected, only 4,000 have recovered which means the lives of the rest of the 37,000 hang in the balance.

The virus has proved to be a huge hit to the second largest economy in the world at a time when its growth rate has been the lowest since 30 years. China has had to quarantine around 50 million people in houses and hospitals, spend around thousands of billions of dollars to fight the epidemic and close down majority of schools, businesses and shops across the country. Economists say that the health threat may come with a huge economic loss of about $62 billion while President Xi has himself stated that some stark measures are threatening the county’s economy and refrained officials from “more restrictive measures” in order to balance out protection of the economy and the people. Adding salt to their wounds, the World Bank is not considering any new loans for China claiming they have their “own large international reserves”. China is scampering to find a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, it seems.

Pakistan seems safe from the deadly virus at the moment and all suspected cases have turned out negative. The only effect we face is the shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) as hospitals have fallen short of 100,000 respirator masks and 20,000 surgical gloves. Internationally, countries have blocked trade and transport routes to China and are frantically evacuating their citizens out of the country. Many cruise ships and airplanes have been subjected to inspections and screenings while Asian communities across the world are facing discrimination. The situation may not be so dire in other countries but it needs to be stopped in its tracks. “We may only be seeing the tip of the iceberg” as cautioned by the WHO director-general, and the aftermath could be much worse. In such a situation prevention, safety and unity is paramount.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 12^th, 2020.

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