ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has witnessed a big reduction up to 28 percent in COVID 19 cases as a result of introducing a novel strategy of smart lockdown to curtail spreading of the deadly virus. The data issued here in Islamabad by the National Command and Control Centre (NCOC) is indicative of considerable downward trend in COVID 19 cases in the recent two weeks.
According to NCOC data, implementation of standard operating procedures (SOPs) and practicing of smart lockdown in the areas where virus was spreading fast, Pakistan has seen encouraging results which subsequently reduced rate of infection and deaths in the country.
Pakistan had witnessed first COVID-19 infection in third week of February this year and since then the government adopted different strategies to curtail the virus. The official data shows COVID 19 spread fast in Pakistan in May and first two weeks of June. This was a critical time for the policy-makers, professionals and the people. This was the time when Pakistan introduced idea of smart lockdown that made considerable progress to minimum risk of the deadly virus to the public and at the same time it reduced negative impact on the national economy. Keeping in view, fragile economy and rate of poverty,
Keeping in view the possible negative impact of COVID 19, the government quickly worked out a well-planned strategy and set- up NCOC to monitor spread of the virus and at the same time make the people aware of those measures which could help minimize spread of the virus on daily basis. NCOC had also mandate to coordinate between the federal government and provinces to implement COVID 19 curtailment strategy in an appropriate manner. This strategy worked well and by mid of June Pakistan managed to provide much- needed technical support to its healthcare system which was in shambles prior to the outbreak of COVID 19. Pakistan is also among those lucky countries which have made and implemented better strategy to deal with deadly pandemic of COVID 19 despite having less financial resources. Pakistan again is the first country which adopted smart lockdown strategy to cope with COVID 19 at one hand and avoid major pressure on its economy on the other hand, unlike those countries which imposed strict countrywide lockdown in one go to stop the spread of the virus. India is its typical example where Modi government lockdown the entire India for months, but it proved counterproductive. The countrywide lockdown did not help India stop spread of the virus, but it certainly resulted in major damage to its economy, bringing millions of poor Indian to starvation. After realizing the negative impact of countrywide lockdown, Modi government eased out restrictions in June last when virus new cases and deaths were showing spike and it had already damaged its economy. With over 0.9 million confirmed cases of COVID 19 and over 22000 deaths, India is still looking for some strategy to curtail the virus. On the other hand, Pakistan’s strategy of smart lockdown has not only curtailed the spread of virus, but also proven all the international studies false which claimed that Pakistan could be next hotspot by the end of July. With average daily 85 deaths in the last two weeks or so and daily confirmed cases number coming down to 3000, Pakistan’s strategy of smart lockdown is a way forward for many countries struggling to fight out COVID 19 virus.