More than one year after the first novel coronavirus outbreak was detected in China, the world is still struggling to come to terms with the virulent bug that has wreaked havoc across the globe.
One thing, however, is amply clear by now: The best way to flatten the curve of Covid-19 is undertaking mass vaccination at speed and scale – as many nations around the world are doing.
Worsening situation
For the first time in nine months that Pakistan reported more than 5,000 cases in a single day on 2 April. Earlier, the country had detected 6,604 infections on 20 June last year. Unfortunately, the children are also no exception as at least 40 children aged between 1 and 10 have died of coronavirus in the recent past.
The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) few days back identified 26 cities with over eight percent positivity ratio. These included Islamabad, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Sialkot, Sargodha, Sheikhupura, Gujrat, Bahawalpur, Toba Tek Singh, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Mandi Bahauddin, Multan, Okara, Rahimyar Khan, Peshawar, Swat, Nowshera, Dir Lower, Malakand, Swabi, Charsadda, Haripur, Muzaffarabad, Mirpur and Kotli.
The age and gender distribution chart prepared by NCOC showed that people in the age group of 20 to 40 years were the most affected by Covid-19, but the highest rate of casualty was among patients in the age bracket of 60 to 70 years.
The infection rate in Pakistan is still nearly 10 percent that is considered too high and must be a matter of grave concerns for all the stakeholders. The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases has increased up to 687,908. Out of which active cases are 60,072 while 613,058 patients have recovered from this disease. In all, 14,778 people have so far lost their lives since the emergence of this pandemic in Pakistan.
A fragile healthcare system
The statistics provided by NCOC are alarming as there are 139 quarantine facilities having capacity of only 23,557 beds in the country. There are 350 beds at two quarantine facilities in Islamabad; 10,948 beds at 6 facilities in Punjab; 2,100 beds at two facilities in Sindh; 2,760 beds at 52 facilities in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa; 5,897 beds at 10 facilities in Balochistan; 520 beds at four facilities in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK); and 972 beds at 63 quarantine in Gilgit-Baltistan.
Similarly, there are 215 medical facilities in Pakistan that have a total capacity of only 2,942 beds for isolation of the coronavirus patients. In Islamabad, there is only one isolation facility at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMs) having ten beds. Punjab 50 medical facilities 955 beds; Sindh 4 medical facilities 151 beds; KP 110 medical facilities 856 beds; Balochistan 14 medical facilities 534 beds; AJK 15 medical facilities 310 beds; and GB have 21 medical facilities with a total capacity of 126 beds.
There are 35 tertiary designated hospitals in Pakistan to combat coronavirus pandemic that include Islamabad one; Punjab 6; Sindh 4; KP 7; Balochistan 10; AJK 3; and GB has four hospitals.
Lockdown or no lockdown?
The federal and Singh governments hold different viewpoint on the issue of lockdown with one considering it a disaster for the people especially labor class and other declaring it a solution to reduce infection rate in the country. Lack of consensus over the issue of lockdown in these trying times will certainly not go down well because the time is the key factor in ongoing war against the global pandemic.
Prime Minister Imran Khan has categorically stated that a complete lockdown did not suit the public as it would create a massive food crisis and deprive labor class of its livelihood.
The policy of introducing ‘smart lockdown’ and ‘micro-smart lockdown’ is now being pursued all over the country. The NCOC has provided maps of ‘hotspots’ to the federal and provincial governments and recommended them to take strict measures in areas with over 8 percent positivity rate.
No enforcement of SOPs
The federal and provincial governments have so far not found out the way to convince the general public to follow the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). The repeated warnings seem to be falling on deaf ears as a large majority of visitors in markets, bazaars, shopping malls and other public places continue to ignore the SOPs.
The local administration in Islamabad and some major cities in other provinces conducted raids and arrested people who were involved in violation of SOPs.
The presence of Prime Minister Imran Khan in a meeting while he was still recovering from coronavirus disease sent the wrong message at a time when the government was urging the masses to follow the SOPs. The statement of a high government official added fuel to fire when he stated that Prime Minister Imran Khan chaired the meeting and he needed no test to ascertain whether he had got rid of coronavirus disease.
Punjab Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar and Punjab Minister Firdous Ashiq Awan not only attended wedding ceremonies but their pictures were also largely shared on social media.
Though the government officials and the politicians stress the need to follow SOPs but their actions usually never accord with their words due to which the people do not take their advice seriously.
Whatever be the situation, the message is still very clear that precautionary measures such as use of facemask, hand washing, social distancing and avoiding crowded places can help prevent spread of coronavirus disease.
The vaccines have arrived
Latest data shows more than a million Pakistanis have already received the first dose of coronavirus vaccine. The NCOC has announced that senior citizens above 65 years can now walk in to any designated vaccination center across the country with their Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC) to get on-the-spot registration and vaccination.
… and so have vaccine scandals
As many as 600 doses of coronavirus vaccine stored at Jinnah Hospital Lahore have reportedly gone missing. The provincial health department summoned the records following the reported disappearance of the vaccines. Punjab Health Minister Yasmin Rashid said a complete record of the vaccination would be compiled and strict action would be taken against those found involved in any kind of irregularity.
The NCOC also decided to hold an inquiry over a video clip in which family members of Federal Minister for Housing Tariq Bashir Cheema were shown being vaccinated.
As far as the purchase of vaccine doses is concerned the Association of Pakistani-American Physicians has written a letter to Prime Minister Imran Khan expressing concerns over the high prices set for Covid-19 vaccines in Pakistan in line with the pricing formula approved by Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP). It underlined that DRAP has approved a pricing formula that allowed 40 percent profit margin to importers plus an additional 15 percent up for retailers.
Pakistan received 560,000 more doses of Covid-19 vaccine on 1 April after which the number of doses received from China surpassed the figure of 2.5 million.
The Transparency International Pakistan (TIP) has also urged the government to negotiate better coronavirus vaccine prices with manufacturers for the benefit of the people.
According to the NCOC, the doses of coronavirus vaccine have been distributed among all the provincial governments to meet their requirements.
The people are often seen asking which one is more effective–Sinopharm, CanSino or Sputnik—but the medical practitioners say the priority should be to get vaccinated.
The end is not nigh!
The ongoing fight against coronavirus disease is likely to continue in months to come. The World Health Organization (WHO) has not given any timeframe about when the world would get rid of this global pandemic. The way to move ahead is to ensure large-scale vaccination of the people, bring changes in lifestyle, introduce new laws in workplaces and follow SOPs in every type of situation.
Developing countries like Pakistan will face some extra challenges because they will find it hard to get their entire population vaccinated in short order. Lack of financial resources, mismanagement and poor governance will continue to haunt our country in its fight against coronavirus disease.
