Govt pursuing ‘holistic strategy’ against virus, says Mirza in response to WHO

ISLAMABAD: A day after the World Health Organisation (WHO) said Pakistan does not fulfil the conditions to ease lockdowns, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on National Health Services Dr Zafar Mirza has said the government is pursuing a “holistic strategy” to combat the coronavirus.

“We have made the best sovereign decisions in the best interest of our people,” Dr Mirza said in a statement on Wednesday in response to the WHO letter. He added Pakistan had “consciously but gradually” eased lockdowns while enforcing guidelines in shops, mosques and public transport.

“We have to make tough policy choices to strike a balance between lives and livelihoods,” Dr Mirza said. Punjab’s health minister, Yasmin Rashid, who received the WHO’s letter, said the provincial government had already given “orders to take strict action against those violating” virus guidelines.

In the letter, the WHO told Pakistan it should implement “intermittent” lockdowns to counter a surge in coronavirus infections that has come as the country continues to loosen restrictions. Since the start of Pakistan’s outbreak in March, Prime Minister Imran Khan opposed a nationwide lockdown of the sort seen elsewhere, arguing the country could not afford it.

Instead, the provinces ordered a patchwork of closures, but over the past several weeks, many of those were lifted. Health officials on Wednesday declared a record 5,385 new cases in the past 24 hours. The country has now confirmed a total of more than 113,000 cases and 2,200 deaths — though with testing still limited, real rates are thought to be much higher.

“As of today, Pakistan does not meet any of the pre-requisite conditions for opening the lockdown”, the WHO said in a letter confirmed officials on Tuesday. Many people have not adopted behavioural changes such as social distancing and frequent hand-washing, meaning “difficult” decisions will be required including “intermittent lockdowns” in targeted areas, the letter states.

Some 25 per cent of tests in Pakistan come back positive for Covid-19, the WHO said, indicating high levels of infection in the general population. The health body recommended an intermittent lockdown cycle of two weeks on, two weeks off. Hospitals across Pakistan say they are at or near capacity, and some are turning Covid-19 patients away.

In his statement, Dr Mirza said: “Our choice of policies has been guided by the best evidence available about the disease spread and our best assessment of the fast deteriorating socioeconomic conditions in the country.”

Mirza said: “The WHO is a UN specialised technical agency on health and they are our longstanding partner in health including in this pandemic which we appreciate. We understand that it is their role to provide recommendations to member states, but understandably there is the health-lens whereas governments have to take into account a holistic picture and make decisions on relative risk assessment basis and this has been the case in Pakistan all along.”

Meanwhile, National Minorities Commission Chairman Cheela Ram tested positive for Covid-19. According to Ram, he experienced mild symptoms of the virus after which he decided to get himself tested for COVID-19. The chairman had last week met Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi as well as various delegations in Peshawar and Islamabad.—News Desk/Agencies