ISLAMABAD: Pakistan risks “sleepwalking” into a coronavirus catastrophe where death tolls reach levels seen in the West and perilously under-resourced hospitals are pushed to the brink, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari told AFP on Monday.

He said the country’s response to the pandemic so far had been characterised by the federal foot-dragging over a comprehensive lockdown and an unwillingness to divert cash to the buckling healthcare system.

Pakistan so far has recorded 93 deaths from a total of 5,230 cases, but experts worry the impoverished country of 215 million people — many of whom live in cramped, multi-generational households — is only at the start of the coronavirus curve.

“There is definitely a false sense of security that we’ve seen from the start of this crisis,” Mr Bhutto-Zardari said in a video call from his Karachi office.

“We have seen a desire to ignore science and facts and the examples of what has been happening around us internationally, which has hampered us taking the timely and necessary action.” Prime Minister Imran Khan has faced particular criticism after saying that Pakistan could not afford a country-wide lockdown, citing the economic damage that would be unleashed.

Pakistan now has a de facto lockdown after provinces acted independently to close schools and companies, but officials are under pressure to loosen restrictions as the economy suffers.

Pakistan’s first Covid-19 cases were reported in Sindh, governed by the PPP, with officials there ordering a lockdown last month.

Bilawal said provincial health advisers, academics and experts had recommended tougher measures across the country.

“We can bring the economy back to life, but we cannot bring people back to life,” he said.

“If we just hope for the best and don’t prepare for the worst ... then Pakistan is sleepwalking into a disastrous situation and I genuinely fear for the consequences.”

He said the situation in Pakistan could be worse than the US or western Europe given the country’s shortage of protective gear for medical staff, a lack of critical care beds and other problems with the underfunded healthcare system.

Published in Dawn, April 14th, 2020