Smart lockdown has failed; full needed in whole Pakistan: Moot told.

Karachi -- Doctors, professionals and activists of civil society on Friday underlined the need to impose a complete lockdown in the entire country for at least 14 days to control the Coronavirus pandemic. They also demanded the provision of Personal Protection Equipment (PPEs) to all doctors and paramedical staff.

Speaking at an online webinar, jointly organized by Centre for Peace and Development Initiative (CPDI) and The Change Organization (TCO), they asked the people to strictly follow the government instructions to observe the smart lockdown and wear masks while going out of their homes.

Dr Muhammad Taufiq, CEO of Sindh Government Children's Hospital, said the provincial government had recently recruited many doctors, but most of new doctors were not trained to handle emergency situation like COVID-19. Many of the new doctors don't know how to operate ventilators and incubators, he added.

He said there was a shortage of ventilators in the government hospitals in Karachi. "The provincial government provides data about presence of ventilators on the entire province basis which may give impression that there are a lot of ventilators available." These statistics should be provided on division basis, he added.

Smart lockdown is better than zero lockdown, Dr Taufiq said adding that the number of patients had increased after Eid because people thronged to markets for Eid shopping. This number is now declining, and it is hoped that after smart lockdown, the number of patients would further decline.

Aijaz Ali Khawaja of Sindh Social Scientists Forum (SSSF) said many European countries were now coming out of the COVID-19 crisis as they were opening up their businesses because they had imposed strict lockdown in the initial phase. Pakistan should have followed the WHO protocols, he said. He called upon the general public to follow the WHO protocols and take preventive measures because there is no treatment of COVID-19.

Ishak...