ISLAMABAD: World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has praised Pakistan for successfully suppressing coronavirus cases in the country, saying Pakistan had reinforced the lesson that saving the economy and fighting the virus could go “hand-in-hand.”
After imposing lockdowns in March, a steady decline in coronavirus cases since June led Pakistan to reopen nearly all sectors of the economy last month as well as wedding halls and universities and schools in September.
“Community health workers who have been trained to go door-to-door vaccinating children against polio have been redeployed and utilized for surveillance, contact tracing and care,” Ghebreyesus said in an op-ed in The Independent. “This has suppressed the virus so that, as the country stabilizes, the economy is also now picking up once again. Reinforcing the lesson that the choice is not between controlling the virus or saving the economy; the two go hand-in-hand.”
As of Wednesday, Pakistan has registered 312,263 infections, 6,479 deaths and 296,881 recoveries. Though testing has been relatively low, the recorded drop in infections is supported by the decreasing proportion of tests that come back positive, as well as dwindling hospital admissions.
Epidemiologists have said the principal reason for the decline is Pakistan’s young population. The average age in Pakistan is 22 years, compared to about 41 in the UK. The vast majority of deaths globally from the coronavirus have been of elderly patients.
