Pakistan 3rd riskiest country in the world for Coronavirus, WHO calls for new lockdown

New Delhi: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province recorded 23 more deaths due to COVID-19 on Tuesday, raising the overall number of people who passed away from the infection to 610 in the province.

It is the highest number of fatalities recorded by the province in a single day since the onset of the pandemic. A total of 521 new cases were detected during the last 24 hours, making the total count of the confirmed coronavirus-hit patients 14,527 in the province, according to a health department’s report cited by Dawn. The case fatality rate (CFR) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is 4.9 per cent, the highest in any province of the country. The nationwide CFR is 1.99 per cent. CFR in Peshawar is 6.1 per cent, also the highest in any district in the country.

While the world continues to struggle against the consistent and deadly spread of coronavirus, a study has revealed that Pakistan is among the third-riskiest countries to be hit with the virus.

A detailed report by Deep Knowledge Group, focused on nations and their safety capability against the pandemic, analyzed and ranked at least 200 nations with — one being at minimum risk, and 200 being at the extremely risky. Pakistan’s ranking came at 148th position our of a total of 200 nations, with a safety score of 370, highest being 752, making it the third riskiest country for coronavirus.

Highlighting that relaxation of the nationwide lockdown resulted in increase of coronavirus infection rate in Pakistan, the World Health Organisation (WHO) suggested imposing an “intermittent lockdown” in the country to curb the spread of the virus.

In a letter addressed to Punjab Health Minister Yasmin Rashid dated June 7, Palitha Mahipala, WHO country head for Pakistan, pointed out that the COVID-19 positivity rate in Pakistan is high and the surveillance system is weak, adding that the country does not meet any prerequisites for lifting restrictions, Dawn reported. In the letter, Mahipala stated that coronavirus has spread to almost all districts in Pakistan, with major cities making up a majority of national cases. The country has reported over 1.10 lakh cases so far.

“Government intervention on April 12 detailing social distancing measures, including movement restrictions, closure of schools and businesses, international travel restrictions and geographical area restrictions were instituted with the aim of limiting the spread of the disease,” she wrote in the letter.

According to WHO recommendations, any government that wishes to lift lockdown restrictions must meet a set of conditions. The letter said that Pakistan has not met any of the condition so far.
“The positivity rate is high, the surveillance system is weak, there is limited capacity to provide for critical patients and the population is not ready to adapt to change in behaviour,” the letter stated.

Pakistan’s reproductive number (R), which is an estimate for the number of individuals infected by each carrier, is also greater than 1.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday said that Pakistan’s coronavirus cases are expected to peak by the end of July or August. He also said that the entire world has now understood that lockdowns are not a solution for the COVID-19 pandemic.