COVID-19 is one the several and dangerous emerging infectious outbreaks in last few decades with the significant public health and socio-economic impacts. The World Health Organization (WHO) on 11th of March declared COVID-19 a pandemic. While still now the world is facing its impacts regarding health and socio-economic conditions.
Similarly, this current pandemic is impacting the social and economic lives of people of Pakistan. As education has been disturbed, many people become jobless and it has also put lives on risk. However, bad governance, carelessness of people and geographical conditions of Pakistan are the main reasons behind its spread. As, it is still a disease without any treatment therefore government should take such measures which may help in declining the cases of COVID-19 and people should also realize their responsibilities to save themselves from this killing disease.
World has faced several plagues in past few decades like influenza in 1957 and 1968 each of them killed about one million people around the world. As WHO also declared COVID-19 outbreak on 11th of March because at that time more than 2.5 million people were infected and 187,000 died globally. These conditions also become worst for Pakistan due to very quick rise in its cases with in the region and like other states Pakistan is facing it which has a huge impact on social and economic lives of people of Pakistan. Whole system is become ill as Pakistan is even a weaker state than United States, China and United Kingdom.
Education has a great importance in every society and any kind of hindrance in it, is hindrance in the development of future of a child. So, due to this plague like all other states Pakistan also decided to close the educational institutions and as we know going schools is one of the best public policy. To learn social skills, to become socially aware and to build good personality by learning norms and ethics of the society, it is necessary to achieve education. But today it has been approximately four months these institutions are closed due to COVID-19 it is one of the main impacts on the people of Pakistan.
Indeed, students are getting online classes with the help of modern technology but as we know Pakistan is not an advanced country several issues are there which children are facing due electricity and connectivity issues. Therefore government should remove these hindrances as educational institution is formal way of social control.
According to report about 36 million people are become jobless throughout the world, which is not a small number and out of them several people are from Pakistan. Pakistan is not a developed country and almost 30% of its population was below the poverty line before COVID-19 and today this percentage is more than 40%, this has also caused deaths due to malnutrition. Significantly, those who used to earn money on daily wages are become jobless in Pakistan. However, it is government’s duty to provide aid to every poor family so that they could not die due to hunger.
The public health system of Pakistan is already under stress with a ratio of one doctor to 963 patients and one hospital. Unfortunately, our country is facing shortage of 200,000 doctors and 1-4 million nurses. Pakistan has even not become free from polio disease which is become a common one in the world. So, this vulnerability due to COVID-19 may impact several lives of people in Pakistan if proper measures will not be taken.
Indeed, there is always a reason behind any issue similarly swift spread in the number of cases of COVID-19 has. Bad governance is cause of failure of a state and bad governance causes an issue more complex than its real face. Government of Pakistan also did some such activities. For instance, the first case of COVID-19 was reported in a student of Karachi who had a travel history from Iran. After that Premier of Pakistan didn’t close border between Iran and Pakistan which results entrance of about 900,000 people without screening. Similarly, government also become late in announcing lockdown throughout the state and local transmission was increased. In the way people showed carelessness and didn’t followed Standard Operating Procedures (SPOs).
Moreover geographical position of Pakistan is also cause of the spread as China from where COVID-19 emerged and Iran which had also a large number of cases both the states are neighbors of Pakistan and due to good international relations them, people of Pakistan also become victim of COVID-19.
So to sum up, Pakistani government should take such precautionary measures which can save lives of people and decline the COVID-19 cases. Such as to provide proper food to poor people, aware people through mass media and announce a complete lockdown to get rid of this virus a China, Neazeland and Greenland did. There is no vaccine for this disease therefore people had better to follow government’s instructions and take this plague serious.