As if Covid has gone

Given the lax attitude of the public, one can assume a general violation in commercial and industrial units

Despite the active coronavirus cases in Pakistan currently numbering in excess of fifteen thousand with an addition of more than five hundred daily cases for a couple of weeks, there has been a near normal activity almost everywhere in the country. Life is generally back to normal in the country – as if the coronavirus has been eliminated from our soil. We, as a nation, tend to take things lightly – even in genuinely serious situations. But the reopening of educational institutions and marriage halls – in what nearly completed the withdrawal of the coronavirus curbs that had been imposed on March 23 – has perhaps given us an all-clear signal.

As a result, it’s business as usual nearly all over the country. Use of face masks by the public is a rarity. Social, political and religious gatherings are being held with scant regard to physical distancing protocols. Shopping centres and other market places are only following the prescribed SOPs as a formality. Buses are plying at full seating capacity. Even schools vans are neglecting social distancing. Given the lax attitude of the public, one can assume a general violation of the Covid safety measures in commercial and industrial units. An atmosphere of neglect can even be witnessed in major private hospitals.

Why would then the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) be not concerned? Its chair, Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar, has very rightly emphasised the need for risk mitigation in order to prevent a second Covid-19 wave in the country which is feared to surface with the advent of the winter season. While the Covid numbers in Pakistan – 319, 848 patients and 6,588 deaths – are not as disturbing as those in the neighbouring India, there is no room at all for complacency. The authorities need to ensure implementation of the SOPs at all costs and the people need to cooperate with them.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 14^th, 2020.

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