Pakistan's COVID-19 cases, deaths decline 80pc: WSJ
The report about Pakistans success comes when even US is still struggling to control the pandemic.
NEW YORK (Dunya News) – Pakistan, where coronavirus was spreading out of control some two months ago, has “dramatically reversed course, recording a sharp decline in coronavirus cases and deaths, which are both down more than 80% from their peaks.”
According to leading US newspaper Wall Street Journal report, major hospitals report beds are freeing up in previously overflowing coronavirus wards, even in Pakistan’s biggest and hardest-hit city, Karachi.
It is said that the tally of patients on ventilators has halved over the past month. This is all happening as Pakistan’s neighbours to the east and west India and Iran are still reporting that infection rates are climbing steadily.
“This is all happening as Pakistan’s neighbours to the east and west—India and Iran—are still reporting that infection rates are climbing steadily,” the Journal said.
Even more surprising, it said, the progress in Pakistan came after Prime Minister Imran Khan resisted advice from the World Health Organization (WHO), declaring in May that lockdowns are too costly for the poor and reopening the economy.
“We charted the tough course between a strict lockdown and completely opening up,” Dr Faisal Sultan, an infectious diseases physician brought in by PM Imran Khan as his adviser for COVID-19.
The report about Pakistan’s success comes when even the United States, a superpower with enormous resources at its disposal, is still struggling to control the pandemic, with 4.7 million cases and 157,000 deaths.
Pakistani Health officials haven’t declared a win, the report said, adding they worry that progress could be undone, particularly with the current Eidul Azha holiday and the upcoming Muharram— that traditionally involve public gatherings across the country.
