BEIJING: As the fifth most populous country in the world, Pakistan has so far had a moderate number of Covid-19 patients.
The government has been ramped up awareness campaigns, locked down parts of the country, imposed curfews and called on volunteers to help, as parts of its efforts to contain the spread of the novel virus, but it acknowledges that the nation is facing a steep uphill battle.
“It is undoubtedly a huge challenge for us for a very simple reason. We are a developing country.” said Naghmana Alamgir Hashmi, Ambassador of Pakistan to China, during a recent interview with CGTN. Ambassador Hashmi said that, in the example of implementing social distancing, in heavily populated cities, sometimes more than 10 people live in one small house, and a huge portion of the nation’s labour force depends on daily wages, which requires the government to find a balance between allowing businesses to stay open to a degree, and taking public health measures.
One silver lining in dealing with the crisis, however, could be Pakistan’s close ties with China. Pakistan had recently welcomed an eight-member Chinese medical team, and received crucial medical supplies worth millions of Chinese yuan.
They include personal protection equipment such as masks and gloves, testing kits, x-ray machines, and even traditional Chinese medicines. According to Ambassador Hashmi, Chinese enterprises have promised the delivery of more donations. “I would like to take this opportunity to thank our Chinese friends, our Chinese brothers and sisters and particularly the Chinese enterprises who during this great time of crisis for us, have once again shown that the best friendship in the world that exists between two nations, two states is between the people the government of Pakistan and China. We are very grateful,” said Ambassador Hashmi.
Besides supplies, China’s tactics in combating Covid-19 could prove to be equally if not more helpful for Pakistan.
Given Pakistan’s huge population and shortage of testing kits, Ambassador Hashmi said “the entire population cannot be tested. So learning from the Chinese experience, taking a page from your worksheet, we are also actually employing the same method.”–Agencies
