'Smart Lockdown': A better option to combat COVID-19.

ISLAMABAD -- The 'smart lockdown' is a viable option of active intervention of the government to launch targeted tracking, tracing, testing and quarantine mechanism in coordination with national security apparatus to halt the spread of COVID-19 by sealing the areas of infected cluster population only while easing restrictions on economic activities under the safety guidelines.

Almost fifty days have passed since the lockdown (partial) is imposed in Pakistan. People in general and business community in particular are showing signs of worry, restlessness and fatigue. More or less the national economy is also facing the same situation. It is not possible to go on indefinitely like this. Probably, no country can go like this when the time period of coronavirus persistence is not known.

No doubt, the unprecedented global pandemic of coronavirus has ravaged the economy of developed countries. But it has made the underdeveloped and developing parts of the world faced with numerous challenges. Before, they used to fight against the curse of poverty. Now they have also to fight against the spread of deadly virus by imposing restriction on businesses and economic activities. Thus the current circumstances of prolonged lockdown have made the survival difficult for poor segments of the society.

But on April 24, the government has decided to convert the existing lockdown into a 'smart lockdown' on the patterns practiced by the western countries. As it is almost impossible to exactly predict that for how long the virus would persist in the country.

Primarily, the 'smart lockdown' means closing selectively the areas experiencing the outbreak of pandemic. The purpose of a 'smart lockdown' is to provide relief and ease restriction to the labor class and the lower strata to survive economically along with fending off the virus.

Therefore, the government has come up with a balancing strategy of 'smart lockdown' to help the weaker segments to earn their routine livelihood while isolating the coronavirus cases and their contacts to contain the disease. It also allowed the economy to function smoothly with guidelines of preventive measures.

A recent research of Pakistan Institute of Development...