Hoping to mitigate COVID-19’s economic toll, Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government lifted a countrywide lockdown in May, leading to a spike in cases. Currently, Pakistan is suffering from the second wave of the novel coronavirus, with the infections increasing day by day.
At a time when political consensus was most needed in forging a national response to the pandemic, the federal government’s relationship with the two largest opposition parties, Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party, was strained.
Let’s take an in-depth review of the ongoing coronavirus situation in Pakistan and the steps being taken by the government for the procurement of its vaccine.
The COVID-19 infections
Pakistan’s coronavirus death toll rose by 89 in 24 hours for the first time in five months as the country struggles to contain the second wave of COVID-19 infections, according to the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC).
Both Sindh and Punjab recorded 41 new deaths while six died of coronavirus in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and one in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. With 2,885 new infections, the number of coronavirus cases reported across the country reached 423,179.
The case positivity rate has shot up to 8.58% with the highest COVID-19 prevalence observed in Karachi as 21.80% of the PCR tests conducted in the past 24 hours detected SARS-CoV-2.
Overall, Sindh has the highest case positivity rate of 13.87%, AJK is second at 9.77%, closely followed by KP at 9.67% while Balochistan reported 8.68%, Islamabad 4.88%, Punjab 4%, and GB 2.78%.
Government’s policies
On 9 May, the federal government almost completely lifted a nationwide lockdown it had imposed in late March to counter COVID-19. Pakistan subsequently saw a surge in cases, placing it among the top twelve pandemic-affected countries worldwide.
The government justifies the easing of nationwide restrictions on economic grounds; indeed, the lockdown’s toll on the most vulnerable, workers and the poor has been brutal. Yet signs of economic recovery since it was lifted are few, while the virus threatens to overwhelm ill-equipped and under-funded health systems.
The federal government’s easing of lockdown measures, despite warnings by the medical professionals, encouraged public complacency. Though the government now urges people to respect social distancing rules, these calls are largely ignored.
Centre’s adoption of what it calls a smart lockdowns strategy may not be enough. Poor data and low testing rates have hampered efforts to “track, trace and quarantine”, which involve identifying and isolating virus carriers and their contacts and placing hot-spots under quarantine, and are essential to curbing the virus.
Opposition’s role
Tense relations between the government and its rivals also hindered coordination between the capital and opposition-held Sindh and among provinces themselves. The Sindh government held the federal leadership responsible for hampering its response.
It argues that Islamabad’s support was insufficient, whether in assisting provincial safety protection schemes or providing pandemic-related medical equipment, which, according to the Sindh government, was available but not equitably distributed.
On the other hand, the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) is constantly holding public gatherings despite the warnings from the federal government.
COVID-19 vaccine and Pakistan
In a major development, British health authorities began rolling out the first doses of a widely tested COVID-19 vaccine, starting a global immunisation programme that is expected to gain momentum.
A 90-year-old woman has become the first person to be given a COVID jab. The first recipient, Margaret Keenan, was given the injection early in the morning – the first of 800,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine that will be given in the coming weeks.
US and European Union authorities are also reviewing the vaccine, alongside rival products developed by US biotechnology company Moderna, and collaboration between Oxford University and drugmaker AstraZeneca.
Meanwhile, Pakistan has announced that the government was in talks with China and Russia to procure the COVID-19. Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Heath, Dr Faisal Sultan informed that the coronavirus vaccine would be available in Pakistan sometime between January and March next year.
The federal government has also finalised the plan for initiating COVID-19 vaccination drive in three phases. In the first phase, 10 million people will be administered COVID-19 vaccines including 0.5 million frontline essential health workers and 9.5 million population over 65 years of age.
In the second phase, all health workers and population over 65 years of age will be administered the vaccines, sources said. A defined proportion of the remaining population will be given COVID-19 vaccines in the third phase of the forthcoming drive.
