Pakistan among countries with most corona cases in Asia Pacific

Islamabad : Iran, China, India, Pakistan, Indonesia and the Philippines have the most cases of COVID-19 and related deaths in the Asia Pacific region.

The COVID-19 situation of Asia Pacific was highlighted in the Second COVID-19 Situation Report Asia Pacific released by United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The report says that Bangladesh and Myanmar remain vulnerable with fragile health systems, refugees and displaced populations, including Cox's Bazar with overcrowded conditions.

It says that India, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines have rapidly rising cases with health systems at risk of collapsing without sufficient support whereas Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan are compounded with significant cross-border movements.

About Lao PDR, Nepal and Papua New Guinea, it says that these countries face risk given weak health systems, limited testing capacity and cross-border movements and pacific island countries are at risk due to weak health systems, natural disasters and geographic isolation.

According to the situation report, there are 264,269 confirm cases of Coronavirus in Asia Pacific with total 13,752 confirmed deaths. The region houses 8 million pregnant women, 107 million women of reproductive age, 21 million old aged persons and 114 million young population aged 10 to 24 years.

The report also identifies challenges faced by the UN agency in addressing the situation. The 22 UNFPA Country Offices and the Pacific Sub-Regional Office in the Asia-Pacific region are engaged in preparedness and response activities to ensure the continuity of lifesaving sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and gender-based violence (GBV) services, the protection of health workers and to assess health and socio-economic impacts of COVID-19.

Key challenges include limited funding, disruptions to supply chains including for personal protective equipment (PPE), ability to implement activities due to movement restrictions, and closure of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Gender based Violence service entry points in many countries.