Coronavirus in Iran

The government has blocked Pakistanis from travelling to Iran after several coronavirus cases, including at least eight fatal ones, surfaced there. Pakistanis already in Iran are not being allowed back either, with some sort of agreement pending with the Iranian government to allow them to stay there till March in a pseudo-quarantine. The Iranian border was also closed on Sunday while nearby hospitals have been placed on high alert. Iran already had at least 43 confirmed cases by Sunday, and dozens of more people were under observation in Qom, Tehran, and other cities. The government has been handing out masks and hand sanitisers across the country while making some darkly ironic statements. On the same day that Health Minister Saeed Namaki asked residents not to panic over the recent uptick in cases, the government closed schools and cultural and religious centres across 14 provinces. At the same time, football league matches will be held in empty stadiums because fans have been barred from attending.

The Government of Pakistan, meanwhile, claims that it is equipped to deal with “any eventuality of coronavirus outbreak”, but we would question this level of confidence, given that the government cannot even deal with polio, or dengue, or hepatitis, or malaria, or rabies. The government claims to be increasing screening at entry points, but the quality of such screenings is also suspect, given the lack of purpose-built facilities at most points of entry. Also, anyone who has passed through immigration at a Pakistani airport knows that staff can barely handle routine work without long delays. Having to potentially screen an entire planeload of passengers with caution and care could cripple an airport.

It is an unfortunate reality that Pakistan lacks the capacity to deal with an outbreak of the disease. Despite much criticism for the failure to bring back Pakistani students from China after the first reports of the epidemic, the decision was probably the right one, and for the same reason. China was able to build a fully-functional 1,000-bed hospital in Wuhan in 10 days to deal exclusively with coronavirus cases. We are still preparing to set up a 100-bed tent in Taftan.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 25^th, 2020.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.