Idealists believe that the upheavals being caused by coronavirus can turn into an opportunity for reducing the economic inequalities of our times. However, realists are of the opinion that this pandemic will further extend the gap between the rich and the poor.

Even though the crisis in Pakistan is at its early stages, it has started to create ripples in our economy and politics.

Prime Minister’s Adviser on Health Dr Zafar Mirza has stated that Pakistan had reported its first two cases of coronavirus on February 26.

According to state officials, both the patients had recently returned from Iran.

Since then, the numbers have been growing steadily. As in other countries, coronavirus has infiltrated the society through people travelling from affected countries.

It is clear that the number of confirmed cases is far less than the actual number of people who have been affected. Given our limited testing capacity, the number cannot be relied upon for a useful picture of the spread of the virus.

Videos showing the sorry state of affairs in quarantine centers established by the government are further proof that the situation is very serious.

The state is taking emergency measures to contain Covid-19. These include closure of schools, universities, shopping centres and other business activities.

Pakistan has been in a lockdown for over two weeks now. The already struggling working class is having a hard time evading the infection and starvation at the same time. Nearly 73 percent of the people in Pakistan make their living by working in the informal sector, where workers have only a limited access to welfare.

The well-off segments of society are busy storing food and groceries in order to have a problem-free isolation experience at their homes.

Social distancing, therefore, is a privilege. One must have a fairly large, fully-provisioned house to practice social-distancing without any fear of privation and interference.

Frequent hand-washing is a privilege too. It means you have access to an exclusive water connection. What is the use of lining up to wash your hands at a public tap?

Hand sanitizers are a privilege. You need money to buy them at exorbitant prices.

Living through a lock-down is a privilege. It means you can afford to be home without being constantly haunted by the fear of losing your job.

So, most of the ways to ward coronavirus off are accessible only to the affluent.

In essence, a disease that was spread by the rich as they fled from the coronavirus epicenter will now kill millions of the poor.

All of us practicing social distancing must appreciate how privileged we are. Most Pakistani people are unable to take the precautionary measures.

Despite being aware of the situation on the ground, the national health authorities are asking people to self-isolate without first informing them about the dangers of the disease and how it spreads.

Take the example of 50-year-old Sadat Khan. After returning from Saudi Arabia, he went straight to his village where he met more than 2,000 people who were gathered there to welcome him. Little did he know that he had brought something deadly with him. Sadat Khan was the first person in Pakistan to die of Covid-19. For this, his town remained quarantined for 14 days.

How can people who live in shared accommodations with several family members be expected to self-isolate? Slums and informal settlements have always been overcrowded.

As far as working from house is concerned, it is only feasible for the people who work in offices. If your only way of earning a living is through selling potatoes or fruits at an informal market, you cannot work from home.

The underprivileged segment of the society is always at the receiving end whenever there is a health crisis or a natural calamity. They do not have any kind of protection, especially in a country like Pakistan, which does not have an inclusive social safety net and where the poor are exposed to all kinds of manipulation.

The problem of rising inflation, lack of access to financial assistance and rampant unemployment are further aggravating the vulnerability of the poor. Pakistan cannot afford to restrict its citizens to the walls of their homes and provide them with free food over an extended period of time.

The results so far suggest that strict lockdowns do not work in populous countries like ours. The low-income segment of the society will face more hardships as a lockdowns lengthen.

We need to be clear regarding the nature and magnitude of a relief package the government can provide. At the moment, the government is giving direct cash support of Rs 12,000 per family to the poor living in urban or semi-urban areas.

The second major relief is the reduction in prices of petroleum products by 15 percent.

Thirdly, the State Bank of Pakistan has slashed the interest rate by 1.5 percent. Unfortunately, these measures will only have an impact on the formal economy.

To deal with its big informal economy, Pakistan needs to address the problems associated with reporting and registration.

It’s a good bet that the government is not fully aware of the incidence of poverty, particularly in urban areas.

The Benazir Income Support Programme has a mechanism and the necessary data as it caters to the needs of 5.4 million households. However, the poverty score card, which they use to decide who qualifies to become the recipient of the aid, is flawed and politically-motivated.

Given the current situation, there are a few things the government must take into account.

Firstly, the government should allocate a substantial part of the relief package to the people living below the poverty line to provide them some fiscal cushion against the possible demand-pull inflation.

Electricity dues up to Rs 5,000 should be waived. This will have a direct impact on the poor.

The government must realise that the reduction in petroleum prices is inadequate given the historically-low crude prices in international markets.

Since political workers are generally well aware of poverty in their neighbourhoods, the participation of the local governments at the grassroots level will be very helpful in translating the benefits of any step that the state takes in the interest of the people.

So far, everything done by the government has been too little and too late.

To provide meaningful relief to the poor segments of society, Pakistan also needs resilience in its already struggling economy.

This makes it all the more imperative for Pakistan to ask the international monetary institutions to soften their debt-repayment demands.

Stock markets in the Europe and US show that only lowering the interest rate will not help revive economies.

It will require more relief measures such as tax cuts.

It may be argued that Pakistan neither has the fiscal cushion to provide tax cuts and wage hikes, nor enough policy space to significantly reduce interest rate in a debt servicing programme.

However, we can approach the special fund established by multinational lenders to contain the transmission of the disease.

Lastly, and most importantly, it is high time we incorporated vulnerability and established resilience in our systems and daily life as a whole.

Crises like Covid-19 can only be contained through a global effort at a fairer wealth distribution and poverty reduction.

Never were the flaws in the current pattern of global development as obvious as they are now. Let us now lay the groundwork for overcoming them in the post-coronavirus world.