By Uzma Zafar
ISLAMABAD: The federal government is preparing to loosen coronavirus lockdown restrictions as the number of infections and deaths are “well below previous projections”, officials said on Wednesday.
Pakistan despite registering more than 15,500 cases of Covid-19 including 340 deaths has already granted exemptions to dozens of sectors to open up over the last few days. “The mortality numbers are nowhere near the same as we see in other countries,” Planning Minister Asad Umar, who oversees the response to the virus, told journalists.
He said infections and deaths in Pakistan were 30-35% lower than projections and, if things remained this way, the country could open up further in coming days.
Experts say Pakistan’s low numbers are due to limited testing. Currently Pakistan, a country of more than 207 million people, conducts about 8,000 tests a day.
On Tuesday, the country registered 800 positive cases and 26 deaths – the highest number of deaths in a single day. Experts and officials say infections will peak in mid-May. Umar said that despite the rising numbers, the disease was under control, but the economic cost had been “tremendous” as revenues and exports had been hit during a month-long lockdown.
The IMF has projected that Pakistan’s economy will contract 1.5% this financial year. Pakistan a few days ago launched a new “Test, Trace and Quarantine” system, which officials say will allow it to steadily open up commercial and industrial activities over the next few weeks without risking further infections. Officials at the briefing did admit there remained areas of concern – particularly the high incidence of infections in health workers. Zafar Mirza, the top health official, said at least 480 health workers, including doctors, had been infected.
He added that because of the lockdown and the focus on the coronavirus, a number of other health programmes, such an anti-polio campaign, had been affected. Pakistan has also removed restrictions on congregations at mosques for the holy month of Ramazan, leading doctors to raise the alarm on the risk of mass infections. But Mirza said safety procedures for mosque gatherings had been worked out between the government and clerics.
Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on National Security Dr Moeed Yusuf on Wednesday clarified that the two-day mandatory quarantine period for citizens returning to the country does not mean that they would necessarily be allowed to go home afterwards. Speaking at a press conference in Islamabad, he said that every passenger coming to Pakistan would be required to stay at a quarantine facility for two days. He clarified that tests were conducted after 48 hours have passed.
While explaining the quarantine policy, he said that it can take up to one or one-and-a-half days or even 3-4 days until test results come back depending on provincial capacity and pressure. “After the test result comes back, we will decide whether the person will remain under quarantine, be taken to a hospital or sent home with self-isolation guidelines.
