ARENOWNED Chi nese scholar has suggested that the spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic could be effectively slowed down in Pakistan by blocking the flow of population and keeping everyone home as much as possible. “By blocking the flow of population and keeping everyone at home as much as possible, we can effectively slow down the spread of the virus,” Cheng Xizhong, special commentator of China Economic Net and visiting professor at Southwest University of Political Science and Law said in his article. “What is the current threat of COVID-19 for Pakistan? This question reminds me of a Chinese idiom “ the city is besieged by enemy troops”. On one hand, the global epidemic is becoming more and more serious, and on the other hand, neighboring Iran in the west is now a disaster area. I feel that Pakistan is surrounded by the epidemic and is facing a very serious situation,” he opined. On March 12, there were 1032 confirmed cases in the United States. After half a month on March 27, the number of confirmed cases has gone up sharply to over 100,000, which has made the United States the most seriously affected country in the world. Now, there are about 1,200 confirmed cases in Pakistan. It’s hard to say what will happen if the most stringent prevention and control measures are not taken immediately. The epidemic in China has now been effectively controlled. At that time, the epidemic was mainly in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province, and it was not very serious in the rest of China. But in Pakistan, the epidemic has spread all over the country. It is the most serious in Sindh and Punjab provinces and there are also many confirmed cases in Balochistan, KhyberPakhtunkhwa, GilgitBaltistan and Islamabad. Due to the increasing severity of the epidemic, the Pakistani government has already taken some control measures. On March 23, after consultation with the provincial governments, the federal government of Pakistan began to deploy troops throughout the country to block major cities; on March 24, Pakistan Civil Aviation Administration announced that from March 26 to April 2, flight of all types of aircraft in the country would be suspended; in the capital Islamabad, all public transport services have been stopped, and all shops except large department stores and drugstores have been closed. Stressing for more preventive measures to control rapid spread of the epidemic, he said, the spread ability of COVID19 is very strong, and the spread speed is very fast. Pakistan is one of the most populous countries in the world, with a population of more than 200 million, 23 million in Karachi and 10 million in Lahore. The population density of Pakistan is higher than that of China. In China, there are 145 people per square kilometer and in Pakistan, there 256 people per square kilometer. “Therefore, if we do not take the most strict and most effective prevention and control measures immediately, the consequences will be unimaginable,” he added. Cheng Xizhong believed that the most effective way to prevent and control the epidemic is to block the flow of population. Under the command of the central government, the Chinese people all consciously stayed at home in consideration of national interests. Pakistan has a relatively high proportion of poor people who depend on their daily income to support their families. If the cities are closed, they will lose their poor daily income and cannot continue to support their families. The relationship between economy and sealing off the cities from all outside contact is dialectical. In the short term, the closure of the cities certainly affects the economy and everyone’s life, but if the cities are not closed, leading to a large-scale outbreak of the epidemic, the whole economy will be fatally hit for decades.—APP
