At the beginning of June, the World Health Organization sent a letter to all the provinces of Pakistan [3] announcing that the country ranked among the top 10 countries in the world reporting the highest number of new cases of COVID-19 per day. After some debate, Pakistan decided to impose a “smart lockdown [4]” trace and testing strategy in parts of the country that are considered hotbeds for coronavirus.
Currently there are 173,590 confirmed cases in Pakistan [5] and 3,590 have died of the virus. The government has asked citizens [6] to take precautionary measures, avoid going out, wear masks and wash hands as the healthcare system will not be able to handle the burden of new cases.
As COVID-19 cases jumped to 165,062 after 4,944 new infections were detected in Pakistan over the past 24 hours while 136 more people succumbed to the deadly disease, is the smart lockdown proving to be effective? pic.twitter.com/E0zJHwW77q [7]
— Global Village Space (@GVS_News) June 21, 2020 [8]
Eased restrictions leads to surge in cases
In mid-March, the Pakistani government began to implement its first lockdown measures [9]. Prime Minister Imran Khan had been saying from the start that Pakistan could not afford a full lockdown because of fears that 25% people [9] who live below the poverty line would die of hunger. The government banned public gatherings, shut down restaurants and all other daily activities and closed education institutions [10] until July 15. While stores selling daily use items, vegetable and fruit shops and pharmacies remained open.
On May 10, just two weeks before Eid [11], an Islamic celebration after Ramadan, the government eased the lockdown [12] after the business community started putting pressure on the government to relax restrictions. The Supreme Court of Pakistan also took a Suo Motu Notice [13] (when a judge takes notice of a public interest incident without any party applying for its consideration) and issued a directive asking the government to reopen [14] shopping malls across the country.
Pakistan reports 520 new cases and 17 new deaths in the past 24 hours. We are not ready to ease the lockdown. The state, such that it is, is privileging some half-baked idea of economic necessity over the lives of many.
— Kamini Masood (@hastobuud) April 16, 2020 [15]
The Pakistan Medical Association believed [16] that the government should have taken the virus seriously and Supreme Court should have reconsidered [17] their opinion. Doctors were afraid [18] that the country did not have the necessary infrastructure to deal with patients if the government chose to push for herd immunity.
When the lockdown was eased, the public was asked [19] to “become responsible and intelligent citizens”; however, people flocked to markets for Eid shopping by the thousands and violated all SOPs. In an interview [20] with market goers refused to believe that coronavirus exists.
????#Peshawar [21] Sadar Bazar today
Note: Peshawar is the city leading with deaths because of #COVID__19 [22] in #Pakistan [23], daily 80+ positive cases and after ease in lockdown this is situation pic.twitter.com/WCn8hvQJR3 [24]
— Jalal Qazi (@JalalQazi) May 11, 2020 [25]
After a month of opening up, Pakistan had over 100,000 cases which has put severe pressure on the healthcare system. [26]
You can predict peak only when you have taken the necessary steps (lockdown, aggressive testing, and contact tracing etc.)
Pakistan has slackened on these steps. hence the peak projection keeps shifting from one month to the other. /2https://t.co/2T5aCLw3aH [27]
— Awais Saleem (@awaissaleem77) June 21, 2020 [28]
As expected, the cases started rising and the World Health Organization letter [29] to the provinces pointed out that Pakistan was not conducting enough tests and must increase them at all costs. To which Bilawal Bhutto, Chairman of Pakistan Peoples Party, [30] tweeted:
WHO letter to Sindh government raises valid concerns & suggestions. Will be discussed by Sindh govt before being taken up at national level. We’ve long called for national policy to be linked to facts & our own capacity. Unfortunately so far this hasn’t been national approach.
— BilawalBhuttoZardari (@BBhuttoZardari) June 9, 2020 [31]
Pakistan's Minister for Planning, Development & Special Initiatives, Asad Umar, warned in a press conference that the confirmed cases of COVID-19 could double by the end of this month and reach 1 million to 1.2m by the end of July [32] if precautionary measures are not taken by the public.
Smart lockdown arrives
Last week's decision by the Pakistani government [33] to implement ‘selective ‘or ‘smart’ virus lockdown was met with confusion and challenges. A smart lockdown [34] is targeted tracking, tracing, testing and quarantine mechanism with the help of national security apparatus to stop the spread of coronavirus. The aim is to seal the areas that have a high number of the infected population while easing restrictions on economic activities under strict SOPs. But social media users are debating this move as they believe that Pakistan should go under full lockdown.
“Sakht lockdown”
“narm lockdown”
” smart knockdown”
“selected lockdown”
“Hafta itwar band baqi din khuly”
Pakistan aa k corona b pagal ho gya hai;)— Aleezy_khan? (@victorious_55) June 21, 2020 [35]
“Strict lockdown”
“Mild lockdown”
“Smart knockdown”
“Selected lockdown”
“Markets Closed on Saturday Sunday rest of days open”
After coming to Pakistan corona has gone mad ;)
Some provinces like, the Sindh, are facing challenges [36] to implement the smart lockdown effectively because of a lack of resrouces, manpower and public misunderstanding.
After the letter from the WHO, all provinces started reimposing a lockdown in areas that are hot spots of coronavirus. The government is following a trace, test and quarantine strategy [37], following strict protocols outlined by the WHO and is also using technology, police force and a team of volunteers [38] to help identify adherence restrictions.