Even though Pakistan reported over 6,000 Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, Prime Minister’s Health Adviser Dr Zafar Mirza played down the recommendations by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for being just ‘health-focused’.
In the wake of the rise in the infection across the country, the WHO had suggested that the Punjab government may impose a strict, intermittent two-week quarantine to stem the spread of the pandemic.
In a letter to Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid, WHO Country Head for Pakistan Dr Palitha Mahipala had stated that the country does not meet any of the organisation’s six technical criteria for easing a lockdown as was done on May 1 and then on May 22.
However, the warning fell on deaf ears. Mirza responded to the report, saying that the UN body was viewing the situation through a “health lens” whereas the government was following a “holistic” strategy to deal with the threat.
“The government’s choice of policies has been guided by the best evidence available about the disease spread and our best assessment of the fast deteriorating socio-economic conditions in the country,” said Mirza.
He recalled that a ministerial-level meeting took place at the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) every day in which the government with the help of experts “reviewed the disease data and trends very minutely and took a holistic view of the situation along with the provinces and developed recommendations”.
The adviser further recalled that Pakistan was a low middle-income country where two-thirds of the population was dependent on day-to-day earnings. “[The government] has made best sovereign decisions in the best interest of our people,” he said.
He added, however, that the government has to make “tough policy choices” to maintain the balance between lives and livelihoods. He said that although the lockdown had been eased, there was an increased focus on enforcing the standard operating procedures (SOPs) issued by the government to prevent the spread of the virus.He noted that wearing masks in public had been made compulsory and the government had developed a “robust” mechanism for dealing with the spread of Covid-19 which includes tracing, testing and quarantine to identify and seal off hotspots. He added that another strategy included shoring up the health system to cope with the influx of patients.
Mirza said the government “appreciated” the WHO’s recommendations but it had to look at a “holistic picture and make decisions on relative risk assessment basis”. “This has been the case in Pakistan all along,” he added.
MURAD BLASTS GOVT OVER POOR HANDLING OF COVID-19:
Asked at a press conference to comment on the coronavirus situation, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said he didn’t need to say anything on the issue because the latest numbers of virus cases are “self-explanatory”.
“Today we had the most cases and most deaths. Yesterday, we had 105 national deaths,” he noted.
“Now if they don’t care or don’t realise [the situation], what can we do?” he added, in an apparent reference to the federal government.
Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah says his government was helpless in imposing restrictions to control the spread of Covid-19 after orders were issued by the Supreme Court to reopen businesses and the federal downplayed the threat.
“We appeared in SC and told them that we don’t want to reopen [the economy]. Then we were told to follow the federal government’s lead on opening. After a strict order like that, what could we have done?” Shah said while answering a reporter’s question.
He said following the SC order and after the “mindset” of the federal government became clear, “people stopped caring about corona and said stuff like ‘this corona is nothing'”.
Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah says he had proposed on March 13 that the country’s borders should be closed to control the spread of the coronavirus, “but no one listened to us”.
“And on March 17, the nation was told that ‘corona is just a flu. You will recover after a bout of flu and cough’,” he said at a press conference, referring to the federal government.
“Due to mixed messaging, can you even blame the common man for not taking this virus seriously?” he asked.
LOCKDOWN ENDED WITHOUT MEETING REQUISITES: WHO
The WHO, in its letter, had said that Pakistan has been ranked among the top 10 countries in the world reporting the highest number of new cases of Covid-19 and advised the government to enhance daily testing capacity to 50,000 to assess the actual prevalence of coronavirus across the country.
While expressing concern over the hasty lifting of restrictions, the WHO said Pakistan did not meet any of the prerequisites for the opening of the lockdown.It also alerted Pakistan to its high positivity rate, underlining the seriousness of the Covid-19 situation and poor efforts of the government in this regard.
As a strategy to help contain the massive transmission of coronavirus, the WHO recommended the imposition of a two-week lockdown. “WHO strongly recommends the two weeks off and two weeks on strategy as it offers the smallest curve,” the letter said.
Alerting Pakistan to its high positivity with a weak surveillance system, the WHO said: “The positivity rate is high at 24 per cent (above the required level of 5pc), the surveillance system (identify, test, isolate, care for the ill including identification and follow up of contacts and quarantining) is weak.
“Decisions will require the need to balance response directly to Covid-19, which includes intermittent lockdowns of target areas (districts, towns, section of the town or village) as a first option and should be dealt on priority basis while simultaneously engaging in strategic planning and coordinated action to maintain essential health services delivery, mitigating the risk of system collapse,” the letter added.
https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2020/06/10/govt-says-following-holistic-strategy-to-stop-pandemic/
No comments:
Post a Comment