December 26, 2022 (MLN): Pakistan will likely be seen as sandwiched between two epicenters of Corona -Health and Economy as the “new variant” of the coronavirus currently spreading in China posing a threat to Pakistan.
Nearly thirty-seven million people in China may have been infected with the pandemic on a single day last week, creating a new challenge for Pakistani authorities to stay alert. The experts also warn that the situation could get severe in winter.
As in the first quarter of 2020, the stock market nosedived, factories were shut down, global trade and supply chains were severely disrupted, airports were deserted, offices had stopped their operations, and shops remained closed to contain the pandemic outbreak.
Pakistani Stock Exchange benchmark KSE-100 Index plunged by over 25% in March, and the rupee by over 6% last year. Forex reserves slumped 12% in the month of March from the virus outbreak, from $12.8 billion to $11.2bn.
As stated afore, the outbreak created panic and hit harder when the lockdown was announced in mid-March 2020. Although it started recovering by the End of March, nonetheless, it took almost a year to reach the same level.
The manufacturing sector, especially the exporters faced difficulties due to the decline in the demand for imports from Pakistan and other developing countries whereas, numerous consignments from the textile sector were stranded on the sea and then returned because in wake of the pandemic no state wanted to bring them inside the country unless everything was back to normal.
Exporters are also faced with problems in working capital management. Moreover, small businesses, especially freelance entrepreneurs, have struggled.
Overall economic growth in Pakistan contracted to 0.47% in 2019-20 when it already had a weak economic growth of just 1.9% in the prior year.
The new covid variant will further compound long-standing challenges -especially in the industrial and services sectors. Billions of rupees invested in different shares were reduced by one-third and in some cases half of the value.
Pakistan being one of the most densely populated countries in Asia, with a population of 204.65 million, and Karachi being the largest metropolitan city in Pakistan will be greatly vulnerable to this outbreak owing to its present economic condition, healthcare resources, and the occurrence of previous outbreaks.
The country began dismantling its “zero-Covid” regime of lockdowns and testing that had largely kept the virus away for three years — at great economic and psychological costs.
However, Dr. Khan claimed that the immunity level of the citizens of Pakistan was better due to vaccination. “New variants may disturb those who are not inoculated, so I would urge people to get vaccinated and get booster shots.
Although NCOC has not issued any guidelines, I would advise people that they should avoid social gatherings for some days,” he said.
Previously, the country has shown tremendous potential in public health, and different government and nongovernment organizations can collaborate to address the challenges through the engagement of society and the community along with the introduction of new policies.
Copyright Mettis Link News
Posted on:2022-12-27T14:16:13+05:00
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