Govt lifting lockdown sans strategy to combat Covid-19

PESHAWAR: The government has decided to relax the so-called lockdown from Monday (today) without having a proper strategy to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.

A government official seemed confused to explain the reasons behind allowing business and withdrawing ban on the movement of people for four days a week i.e. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and again imposing lockdown for the remaining three days. The confusing policies of both the federal and provincial governments have forced the doctors to request the rulers to review the decision, fearing the relaxation in lockdown could deteriorate the situation at a time when the number of Covid-19 cases were already increasing.

Experts observed the government should have a proper plan to cope with the situation after lifting the lockdown to overcome the pandemic instead of mere presenting figures on the media. The Covid-19 outbreak started in Wuhan city China in November in 2019 and spread to other countries where cases were reported from January 2020 onwards.

Pakistan reported its first case on 26 February. Government introduced country-wide lockdown from 1 April. Officially, lockdown has been relaxed in Pakistan from May 9. A number of countries in Europe and Asia have also relaxed lockdowns. Majority of countries have introduced legislation to impose fines on individuals for not wearing facemasks and not the following social distancing rules.

Most of the people carrying corona infection are asymptomatic. They will probably have lifetime immunity. This can be checked with the rapid antibody test. In due course, these people will represent majority of the population.

They are extremely unlikely to get the disease again or pass it on. Ideally, antibody test should be carried out on a massive scale to get an idea of herd immunity in the population. Countries like China are using antibody test to issue immunity pass that are required to travel.

The diagnostic test of PCR of the oral & nasal swabs is still being used as the gold standard for confirming recently infected persons. Thus test, trace and isolate will carry on.

The United Kingdom has developed and is testing a Contact Tracking App that uses cellphone’s bluetooth. This app will keep data of all individuals who have come in close proximity of an individual and can be used to identify them in case the person got the infection.

South Korea has been using a similar kind of smartphone app very early in response to the Covid-19 outbreak. France has developed a smartphone app that identifies hotspot areas. Thus, one can check about the infection status of an area before visiting it. This data can also be used to decide how strictly lockdown measures are to be enforced in a particular area. It’s extremely pertinent to put in place these measures in practice in Pakistan as well as Covid-19 is likely to haunt us for many more months.