Pakistan's turnaround of Covid-19 infections a political triumph for Imran Khan: Report

Islamabad - US daily highlights how Pakistan dramatically reversed course in coronavirus pandemic.

As Pakistan sees surprisingly steep decline of Covid-19 infections from 6,825 cases a day in mid June to just 553 on Sunday, the medical experts say the turnaround is "real" and "promising" while the political circles call it Prime Minister Imran Khan's political triumph.
Two months ago, Pakistan was seemingly heading towards a disaster and was being compared with similar-sized Covid-ravaged Brazil, but the country dramatically reversed course, recording a sharp decline in coronavirus cases and deaths, which are both down more than 80 per cent from their peaks, according to media report published in Wall Street Journal.
Major hospitals say beds are freeing up in previously overflowing coronavirus wards, even in the nation's hardest-hit city, Karachi. 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 rising infection cases.
"Even more surprising, the progress in Pakistan came after Prime Minister Imran Khan resisted advice from the World Health Organization, declaring in May that lockdowns are too costly for the poor and reopening the economy," the US daily said.
"We charted the tough course between a strict lockdown and completely opening up," said Dr Faisal Sultan, an infectious diseases physician, also the prime minister's adviser for Coivd-19.
The health authorities still worry about the possible resurgence of the virus after Eid and upcoming Muharram.
They however believe that the turnaround trend was clear as the proportion of tests coming back positive has more than halved.
Pakistan locked its economy down in March, early on in its outbreak, which kept the virus from spreading widely while the population stayed home.
But after restrictions were lifted in May, many Pakistanis celebrated Eid Al Fitr with shopping sprees and visits to family. That unleashed a burst of infections.
The rapid spread jolted people into changing their behaviour, with more mask-wearing, hand-washing and maintaining social distance, Dr Sultan said.
The preventive messages increased from the government and public service campaigns.
The government switched to a strategy of targeted lockdowns of local areas where a cluster of cases had arisen, sometimes just on one street.
These days, Dr Faisal Mahmood, a professor at Karachi's Aga Khan University, said he is seeing more people in his clinic who are having problems recovering from Covid-19 than those currently infected.
"The drop is real, though I was sceptical initially," Dr Mahmood said.
So far, fewer than 6,000 people have died, with 279,754 recorded cases of infection.
Brazil has about the same size population as Pakistan, but has reported more than 92,000 deaths and 2.7 million cases, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The highest number of patients to die in a day was 153, on June 20.
"The decline in Pakistan is promising," said Anna Vassall, a professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
"But we are not yet certain as to the cause, nor how long it will last. The spread of Covid is driven by social behaviour and it is difficult to measure how that has changed."

• Pakistan