Breach of social distancing
The government
has recently decided to ease the lock down following less number of cases being
reported in the country. According to the top government officials they were
expecting a high number of cases which didn’t turn out to be true. AS the
government eased the lock down restrictions, a couple of days ago, masses threw
the idea of social distancing aside and flouted the corona virus prevention
guidelines. People can be seen standing close to each other without masks and they
are constantly touching their faces. It can be witnessed anywhere official conferences
to queues outside shops and banks, the situation is no different.
It has been
told on many forums by the health officials and the world health organization that
a person can be infected by breathing in the virus if they are within a few
feet of an infected person.
Despite that
the importance of practicing precautions appears to be lost on many occasions.
This attitude towards a virus which has infected around 9000 people and killed over
200. While driving to my office I witnessed people hovering in the markets
without masks and social distancing.
The World
Health Organisation has repeated that the virus is mainly transmitted through
droplets being generated, not only when an infected person coughs and sneezes
but even when they speak.
The
responsibility to make citizens aware of the easy transmissibility of the virus
and preventive measures lies with the government. The federal and provincial
authorities must be clear in their messaging — and begin by adopting stringent
precautionary measures themselves. Every government official should practice
social distancing and wear a mask whenever in public, not only is this
important for their protection, it will also remind members of the public to do
the same.
For those
who are unable to purchase masks, homemade cloth masks can be used. We need to be more cautious with the onset of Ramazan,
as mosques will continue to hold congregational prayers. The Karachi
commissioner has done well by saying in a notification that face masks are
mandatory for anyone leaving home.
The
government must enforce this and whatever it takes to inform citizens about the
risks they are taking if these measures are ignored. On the other hand
government of Pakistan has decided to impose targeted lock down. It has been
decided to lock the areas only where cases have been reported and other areas
will be eased. It is being assumed that this strategy will prove lethal keeping
in view the poor social distancing measures being observed by the general
public. The decision of opening the mosques for congregational prayers during Ramazan
has already raised eyebrows as the number of cases has soared during last three
days. With the targeted lock down and
congregational prayers we are actually creating too many loopholes in the anti-spread
strategy. The apex court has already critiqued the government regarding lack of
strategy and seriousness in the fight against corona virus. More needs to be done
by the government and the people in the trying times of covid-19 outbreak.
labels: social distancing, corona, Pakistan, prime minister of paksitan, article, corona, pandemic #COVID19 #trending #viral #pti #imrankhan #newspaper #news #media #journalism #Coronavirus,
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