Is Pakistan ready for corona?

Bryan Walsh observes that “throughout history, nothing has killed more human beings than infectious disease” and Covid-19 has laid bare the extent of humanity’s vulnerability. But the pandemic has also launched a united global effort to stop the virus in its tracks.

So what is the coronavirus? Viruses have been dogging humanity for thousands of years, and the emergence of the coronavirus is not new to the globe. Coronaviruses most often are found in animals, but human coronaviruses were first characterised as far back as 1965. A past outbreak of a coronavirus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) took place in 2003.

The novel coronavirus that causes Covid-19 mainly affects the respiratory system, causing problems similar to the SARS outbreak and has therefore been named the SARS-CoV-2 by the ICTV — the world body that classifies viruses.

But the coronavirus pandemic dwarfs the SARS outbreak by orders of magnitude. According to the World Health Organisation, a total of 8,098 people worldwide fell ill with SARS during the 2003 outbreak. Out of these, 774 died. In the United States, only eight people had laboratory evidence of the SARS-CoV infection. All of the people who caught the virus had travelled to parts of the world where there was a SARS outbreak.

SARS and Covid-19 are both coronaviruses. Coronaviruses comprise a large family of viruses which mainly affect the lungs, with symptoms ranging from mild flu-like symptoms to severe — like the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).

The common symptoms of Covid-19 are fever, tiredness, dry cough, sore throat, pain and aches, shortness of breath, and some people may also report diarrhoea, nausea and runny noses.

According to the CDC, the coronavirus family is so named because of their crown-like (corona) spikes on their surface. The most common kinds of coronavirus that infect humans are: alpha (229E CoV), beta (NL63), gamma (OC43) and delta (HKU1). Sometimes coronaviruses that infect animals can evolve and make people sick and become a new human coronavirus. Various other studies conducted in 2010-15 also found coronaviruses in both animals as well as human beings.

In December 2019, China identified its first case of Covid-19 in Wuhan, which has since spread globally, resulting in the ongoing 2019-2020 pandemic. There are now more than 2 million confirmed cases out of which more than 500,000 have recovered and at least 157,000 are dead.

The US has more than 700,000 confirmed cases, the highest in the world, followed by Spain with more than 191,000 infections. Italy comes in third with over 175,000 confirmed cases.

These are some of the world’s most advanced countries, but even they failed to save their people from the deadly disease. Across the world, research is rapidly taking place and several dozen vaccines are under development. Doctors are also testing current anti-viral drugs to see if they work against coronavirus and some tests have been promising. But a viable answer to Covid-19 is still distant, with vaccines still in the best case scenarios, still 18 months away.

Which brings us to Pakistan: The manner in which this pandemic is spreading worldwide could result in a truly frightening situation for a country like Pakistan, which is already beset with other problems. Pakistan’s infections as of now are just shy of 8,000 cases, out of which over 1,800 have recovered. Nearly 150 have died. The first confirmed case of coronavirus in Pakistan was in late February, and now according to the federal government, the cases could surge to 50,000 by mid-May.

Due to this, the federal and provincial governments have declared a partial or complete lockdown. While the authorities in the country are willing to fight this pandemic, citizens’ willingness to adhere to social distancing, avoiding gatherings and following the rules leaves much to be desired. For a large population like ours to not sincerely obey the rules could result in a massive issue for which Pakistan is not prepared. Adding to the complications in Ramadan, during which improperly enforced distancing in congregational prayers could result in catastrophe.

The number of Covid-19 cases would keep rising unless government assigned rules and strategies are implemented in letter and spirit. According to WHO guidelines, individuals must avoid human to human interaction, while authorities should identify patients early and quarantine them. They should also communicate critical risk and event information to all communities and counter misinformation. The usage of masks, gloves and maintaining cleanliness through proper hand washing (or using sanitisers), are some important aspects too. Executing and respecting all the precautionary measures will surely develop a healthy state, but it is ultimately individuals’ cooperation that is paramount to see the end of this crisis.

The author is a doctor of pharmacy from Barrett Hodgson University, Pakistan