Pakistan cannot afford to implement the type of large-scaleurban lockdowns the West is undertaking as it tries to slow the spread ofcoronavirus, Prime Minister Imran Khan has said.
The United States and many other nations have eithermandated or recommended the closure of restaurants and other businesses as away of stopping people from passing the virus on.
In Pakistan, home to megacities such as Karachi withmillions of people living in close proximity, Khan on Tuesday said such a movewas considered early on but officials feared it would devastate the country’sfragile economy.
“The Pakistan situation is not the same as that of theUS or Europe… 25 percent of our population is living in grave poverty”,Khan said in a televised address to the nation.
“If we shutdown the cities — people are already facingdifficult circumstances — we will save them from corona at one end, but theywill die from hunger on other side.” Pakistan has however closed cricketstadiums, schools, colleges and universities, Khan noted.
The South Asian nation is considered vulnerable to theimpacts of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Its porous borders, creaking hospitals, culture of handshaking and hugging, and large illiterate populations in crowded urban centresmean containing the crisis could be a huge challenge.
Additionally, Pakistan has a large fiscal deficit and hasneeded multiple International Monetary Fund loans.
Khan said Pakistan’s economy had made gains last year butnow faced pressures from the coronavirus crisis and suggested the IMF shouldconsider relief on the country’s loan repayments.
“We will speak to the IMF because … we have to giverelief to our industries and exporters,” he said.
The cricketer-turned-politician also warned “verystrict action” would be taken against food hoarders.
As of Tuesday, Pakistani health authorities had only tested1,571 suspected cases, with over 200 of them positive.There have been no official deaths so far, butobservers fear the true number of cases is higher than is reflected bystatistics.