AS different interest groups are pressurizing federal and provincial governments to ease restrictions on partial lockdown, latest reports suggest a sharp increase in cases of virus infection in different parts of country. The death toll from COVID-19 in Pakistan rose to 169 on Sunday with record 24 new deaths in a day, and number of confirmed infections reached 8,411 with 47 patients reported to be in critical condition.
The trend we witness these days confirmed the widely held opinion that the ground situation was becoming serious with the passage of every day and this becomes clear as federal and provincial governments have acquired capability to carry out more tests in a day. The capacity is expected to increase to ten thousand tests a day but we need dramatic increase in testing as many people still complain of being sent back from medical facilities unattended. Sindh was rightly being praised by all for its visionary handling of the situation but even then the number of both infections and deaths is rising. Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said that the death of 56 patients in a month was quite worrisome and it showed that the Coronavirus was claiming more than one life every day. Situation in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has become quite alarming as ten more patients died of Coronavirus in a day, the largest number of people who died in a single day from the incurable disease in the country since outbreak of the COVID-19. The real concern for the federal and the provincial health authorities is that the KP crossed the figure of 1,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in less than a month and there is no let-up in such cases. The provincial capital city, Peshawar, has been in the grip of the virus for the past few weeks as among the latest 10 fatalities, four died in Peshawar. The number of infected people is also rapidly increasing in Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Lahore and also in areas like Swat. This is mainly because even the partial lockdown was not strictly enforced by the law-enforcing agencies and people themselves are not observing social distancing as seriously as they should. There is neither any let- up in travel by individuals and families nor social distancing is followed on occasions like funerals. The situation is likely to turn worse when the Government opens a number of industries and businesses for which non-stop ultimatums are being hurled by representatives of the trading community. Opening of factories and businesses as well as permission given for congregational prayers at this point of time is also sending a wrong message to the masses that the situation has improved and there was no need for precautionary measures. No doubt, data released by the National Command and Operation Centre shows the authorities concerned are striving hard to address the challenge. Close to one hundred thousand tests have been conducted since outbreak of the pandemic, the government has made ready 589 hospitals with Covid-19 while 540 quarantine facilities have also been established with 19,409 people housed in them. The information given by Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on National Security Dr. Moeed Yusuf is also encouraging who told newsmen on Sunday that the increased testing capacity will help the Government identify virus hotpots in the country and then only those areas will be sealed off allowing the authorities to move towards a smart lockdown. This can offer a solution to the existing dilemma of whether or not to relax restrictions on movement and resumption of activities by different sectors of the economy. The decision to bring back thousands of Pakistanis from different countries of the globe is also appreciable in view of the difficulties being faced by them but foolproof arrangements should be made for their testing as many of them would be returning from worst hit countries. Irrespective of what the Government is doing, the success of the campaign against Covid-19 is intrinsically linked to the wholehearted cooperation of each and every member of the society. As there are still some misconceptions among some segments of the population about prevalence of the virus including conspiracy theories, public awareness campaigns on the nature of Covid-19, safety guidelines and precautionary measures were the only best possible tools to flatten the Coronavirus curve.
