Enforce coronavirus lockdown to protect people, economy: Atif Mian urges Pakistan

Noted Pakistani-American economist Atif Mian on Saturday warned that coronavius was on an explosive trajectory in Pakistan and proposed a series of steps to contain it.

His message came as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Pakistan jumped to 495 with three reported deaths. As many as 252 tested positive in Sindh, 96 in Punjab, 92 in Balochistan, 23 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 22 in Gilgit and Azad Kashmir, according to government data.

Taking to Twitter, Mian, who is the author of the critically acclaimed book ‘House of Debt’, proposed several measures to combat the deadly virus.

Pakistan is on an explosive coronavirus trajectory and needs to take immediate, bold and clear-headed steps to protect its people and the economy.

What needs to be done? pic.twitter.com/i0LvIs0qWy

— Atif Mian (@AtifRMian) March 21, 2020

“Pakistan is on an explosive coronavirus trajectory and needs to take immediate, bold and clear-headed steps to protect its people and the economy,” he wrote.

The acclaimed economist urged the government to enforce national lockdown to buy time to build response

“National lock down. Shut down all non-essential activities, and gatherings of all sorts (social or otherwise) to minimize contagion. This is an emergency. This act will buy you essential time to build critical capacities and plan ahead.”

“Build testing and relevant health care capacity on war footing – train health workers for contact-tracing, re-purpose buildings for recovery wards etc. Bring all resources to bear on this. It is testing and certainty of safety that will allow country to return to normalcy.

“Essential supply chains must keep flowing – food, medicine, logistics etc. Use military to help out. (4) Massively expand social protection programs (like BISP), get private sector and NGOs involved in protecting the most vulnerable – this should be a national call.

“Now you have breathing space of a few weeks. The continuous testing and contact-tracing will tell you when and where you can start easing up to bring the economy towards normalcy. This will be a test of will and competence. Thousands, perhaps millions, of lives depend on it.”