NEW YORK: While praising Pakistan’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, former US treasury secretary Lawrence H Summers said that the United States could have saved $10 trillion if it followed in its footsteps.
Lawrence Summers took to Twitter and said, “America’s failure on COVID-19 is almost unimaginable. If the US had handled the pandemic as well as Pakistan, we would have saved in neighborhood of $10 trillion.”
Told @FareedZakaria on GPS @CNN, America’s failure on COVID-19 is almost unimaginable. Heck, if the U.S. had handled the pandemic as well as Pakistan, we would have saved in neighborhood of $10 trillion.
— Lawrence H. Summers (@LHSummers) October 18, 2020
Referring to the US coronavirus strategy, the US analyst said that the costs of an expanded testing system were trivial compared to the costs of tens of thousands of early deaths. “Expanding testing should be a matter of utmost urgency,” he added.
The costs of an expanded testing system are trivial compared to the costs of tens of thousands of early deaths. Expanding testing should be a matter of utmost urgency.
— Lawrence H. Summers (@LHSummers) October 18, 2020
Responding to the Summer’s comments, former special assistant to prime minister Tania Aidrus, said that she was glad to see that Pakistan’s efforts were recognised globally.
“Glad to see that the tireless efforts of so many heroes as part of the NCOC in the COVID-19 response are being recognised the world over,” she said in a tweet.
Glad to see that the tireless efforts of so many heroes as part of the #NCOC in the #COVID19 response are being recognized the world over! @Asad_Umar @fslsltn @zfrmrza pic.twitter.com/XetTMZn21V
— Tania Aidrus (@taidrus) October 18, 2020
The United States, so far, has recorded more than 8.35 million cases and 224,389 deaths. Earlier on October 2, US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump tested positive for coronavirus and went into quarantine “immediately”.
