Pakistan has a huge youth bulge — nearly 64pct of the population — and has generally been supportive of Khan including backing him for change in the status quo.
DESPARDES — Prime Minister Imran Khan in his address to the nation on Monday evening vowed to defeat the contagion with “youth and faith” amid reports of biggest single-day jump in Covid-19 cases in Pakistan.
Khan said the war against coronavirus cannot be won only with resources but with the joint efforts of the entire nation.
“We have to fight this war with wisdom and we have to evaluate ground realities of our society also,” he added.
“If we cannot provide food to the people then there is no benefit of imposing a lockdown,” said the premier.
“If the situation of Pakistan was akin to China, I would have imposed a complete lockdown… but in Pakistan the situation is different where poor cannot even afford two square meals a day,” he said.
“We don’t have enough resources like the United States… but what we have is faith,” PM Imran said, adding that, “due to this faith the people of Pakistan generously give charity… and our second strength is our youth”.
Pakistan has a huge youth bulge — nearly 64pct of the population — and has generally been supportive of Khan including backing him for change in the status quo. “However, his team appears to have Dapper Dan syndrome”, a Khan supporter says.
According to Khan, the COVID-19 is only dangerous for the elderly and sick people — the nationwide tally of COVID-19 patients has crossed 1,750 and 25 deaths have been reported. The situation remains fluid, The Express Tribune reported.
“If the situation of Pakistan was akin to China, I would have imposed a complete lockdown… but in Pakistan the situation is different where poor cannot even afford two square meals a day,” Khan said.
“If we cannot provide food to the people then there is no benefit of imposing a lockdown”.
A senior member of Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI) Think Tank says four (4) major coronavirus trends have been tracked in the country so far.
When asked to comment why it was trending, in his view lack of strategic vision, leadership and planning were to be blamed for the trending. “We had three months of warning (and) we did not prepare”.
Days earlier, Special Assistant to the P.M. on Health noted that in contrast to global trends, local transmission was currently at 7 percent, suggesting 93 percent of the cases have been found among people who traveled to Pakistan from abroad.
Dr. Zafar Mirza pointed out that majority of cases thus far reported were found to be in people between the ages of 21 and 30, in contrast to global trends where infections were highest among the elderly.
