Proactive measures needed to save people from Omicron: Fafen

ISLAMABAD: Observing gaps in public behaviour and the government’s response to COVID-19, the Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen) has urged the government to adopt a proactive response to threats posed by pandemics, particularly the Omicron variant.

Despite decrease in the number of COVID-19 positives and death rates since the fourth wave, Pakistan’s healthcare system is poised to undergo significant stress due to the emergence of Omicron and the simultaneous outbreak of dengue. On Tuesday two positive cases had been reported in Karachi and Islamabad, while 12 new suspected cases have been reported in Balochistan. The system has remained under the additional burden of the reported 48,906 infections with 183 deaths between January and September 2021 from the dengue outbreak.

The Fafen collected data from 64 districts across the four provinces of Pakistan to generate a monitoring report on the COVID-19 governance during the period between October 1 and December 15, 2021. The data is based on interviews with key stakeholders as well as direct observations conducted by independent observers deployed in the districts.

The monitoring report, whilst recognizing the strides made in the vaccine uptake process, states that a significant proportion of the total population is yet to be inoculated and still requires utmost attention as the only way to prevent and secure the population from falling prey to Omicron or any other new variant. The report underscores the need for extending the vaccination process to far-flung areas of the country having no access to the vaccination facilities to ensure inclusivity of the process.

The report highlights challenges in the vaccination process. The misinformation and rumours reported about the efficacy of the vaccine circulating among some healthcare workers and the general population is slowing down the vaccination process. The government needs to proactively expand the outreach of its awareness campaign to counter misinformation and rumours to educate the public and healthcare workers regarding the efficacy and importance of getting vaccinated.

The monitoring report also reflects the declining and worrisome trends of compliance with SOPs at public spaces and offices. The field monitoring of public spaces shows that most people were not complying with the observation of COVID-19 SOPs.

While public information is more widely displayed, compliance among the public remains low. Respondents in only 18% of the districts shared that the majority of people in their areas are taking the COVID-19 threat seriously.

The report recognizes the government’s pro-active approach after the discovery of the Omicron variant. On November 29, 2021, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan and Federal Minister for Planning Asad Umar held a joint press conference and appealed to the citizens to complete their vaccination doses and announced preventive measures, including curbs on travel from the countries affected by the new variant.

The Fafen’s monitoring report further states that the comparative relief in the incidence of COVID-19 in the country urges policymakers and healthcare managers to conduct a more holistic review of the existing capacity and state of the healthcare system and come up with a comprehensive strategy.

With the limited time window, the proactive approach exhibited more recently by the government must be extended to other key aspects of the pandemic response to deal with the Omicron variant in the short term and potentially lay down the foundation for a viable and robust pandemic governance component in the overall health sector reforms.