BARRING some major development, there are all indica tions that the war against Covid-19 is going to be longdrawn as the virus continues to spread in Pakistan as well as elsewhere in the world. The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the Corona Virus disease pandemic is “accelerating”, as it took 67 days from the first reported of Covid19 to reach 100,000 cases, 11 days for the second 100,000, and just four days for the third 100,000. The number of affected people is increasing by hundreds in Pakistan and there are apprehensions of rapid surge if proper screening and testing is done of all the affected people in all parts of the country. Latest figures indicate that the virus is affecting 195 countries of the globe forcing close to two billion people to stay home and prompting many countries to go for lockdown and even impose curfew. The rapid spread of the Corona Virus since it was first reported in China has dealt an unprecedented shock to the global economy with governments attempting to stabilize their economies, companies struggling to cope and millions of people facing job losses and disruptions in supplies of goods and in services. WHO is urging that to win the war against Corona Virus, we need to attack it with aggressive and targeted tactics – testing every suspected case, isolating and caring for every confirmed case, and chasing and quarantining every close contact. While these targets might be achievable for advanced and wealthy countries, it would be next to difficult for the poor especially those with sizeable population to carry out testing of every suspected case and follow other measures. Closer global cooperation would have been the answer but the scope for such cooperation is also not bright as every country is frantically fighting the menace and finds it difficult to spare required resources for others. In this backdrop, it is encouraging that Federal and Provincial Governments, Pakistan Army, medical institutions, opposition parties and religious scholars are all taking the threat seriously and are trying to contribute to the national campaign against the virus. Despite reservations, Punjab had to follow the Sindh Government in imposing restrictions that amount to lockdown of the province for fourteen days while Azad Kashmir has acted wisely in extending the already imposed lockdown for another three weeks. There is now greater awareness among people about the need for self-isolation, which is only effective strategy in our conditions. However, there are still some segments of the society that are not taking the risk as seriously as they should and that is why they are becoming a threat not just for themselves but for others as well. This is evident from the episode in Bhara Kahu area of Islamabad where as many as six cases were confirmed among the members of Tablighi Jamaat who were residing in a local mosque. According to police, a few days back one member of the Jamaat from Kyrgyzstan was confirmed with the virus. Later five more Kyrgyz nationals and six Pakistanis, who were residing in the same mosque were shifted to an isolation ward. Things might change as prominent clerks of the Islamic world including Imam-e-Kaaba SheikhAbdul RahmanAl-Sudais have urged people to stay inside homes by ensuring implementation on directives of their respective governments. Leadership of Pakistan Ulema Council has also asked people to stay home for next two weeks irrespective of any emergency. Experience in other countries especially China shows the situation can be handled with the cooperation of the people. Responsible attitude of each and every citizen would enable the countries to return to normalcy sooner. Otherwise, apart from health risks, there are also alarming economic consequences for individuals, families and the entire country. According to experts, Pakistan could expect 12.3 million to 18.53 million layoffs out of those employed in different sectors of economy in the aftermath of partial or complete shutdown forced by the outbreak of virus. Already, there are reports that the five-star hotel industry has resorted to notable job cuts following plunge in room occupancy to near zero and fears of shutdown for the time being. There is, therefore, no choice for each and every citizen to cooperate for his/her own safety and that of others and in the overall interest of the society and the country.
