The third wave

Till 10 days ago, the rate of Covid positive cases in the country was hovering around 3.5%, but the same has now swelled to 6.5%. Yes, a third wave of the coronavirus has hit the country, especially Punjab where 1,653 cases — among the national tally of 2,238 — were reported in a single day, on Sunday, for the first time since June 2020. The government sees the UK variant of the deadly microbe as the major reason behind the sharp surge in the cases. Federal Minister Asad Umar, who is also the chair of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), has confirmed that genome sequencing done in the wake of a rise in the infection cases in AJK and parts of Punjab — the origin of a big number of British Pakistanis — verifies the presence of this lethal strain of the virus.

Thus the government has had to withdraw the decisions taken on February 24 — whereby all official, commercial, social and entertainment activities across the country were to get back to normal from March 15 — even before they could come into force. Amid the rising number of cases, the NCOC — the Covid nerve centre which has representation from all provinces and regions of the country — has asked all federating units to ensure strict implementation of the prescribed SOPs. The Centre is also considering further restrictions on travel from countries where there is high infestation of new strains of the virus.

In line with the NCOC directives, the Punjab government has imposed a lockdown for two weeks in seven high-prevalence cities — Lahore, Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Faisalabad, Multan, Gujranwala and Gujrat — restricting the movement of the people. Besides, all commercial activities throughout the province of Punjab will be closed by 6pm. Shrine and cinemas have been closed while mosques have been directed to ensure compliance with safety measures. The policy of 50 per cent work from home in case of both public and private offices has also returned. Educational activities have discontinued yet again. People have been warned of a fine as high as Rs35,000 on face mask violation. Similar measures have been imposed in the federal capital and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province also. Even in Sindh, where no cases of the UK variant of the coronavirus have been reported so far, restrictions have been stepped up.

The re-appearance of the curbs has — pretty understandably — not gone down well with both the general public as well as the business community. Frankly speaking, it’s pretty natural for people to get fed up with the restrictions that have been in place in some form for about a year. We have even seen people in European countries take to street in protests against lockdown measures. The government, therefore, needs to supplement its efforts to counter the raging pandemic with a swift vaccination process. It’s disappointing to note that the government has not yet completely catered to the most at-risk population. Of the 400,000 people ageing 60 and above who registered for vaccination in Karachi and Lahore, only 10,500 have so far received the jabs. The number of doses administered in Pakistan is the lowest in the region — 0.03 per 100 people as against 2.58 in Sri Lanka, 2.03 in Bangladesh, 1.38 in Nepal and 1.2 in India.

Moreover, the $150 million set aside by our government for vaccine procurement is simply peanuts. And then there is no word yet on the timeline about the doses expected under the Covax programme. Right now, we are solely relying on the one million vaccine doses gifted by China. The government must come up with a proper plan for a swift vaccination process in the country as early as possible.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 16^th, 2021.

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