ISLAMABAD           -       Pakistan and China will eventually win the war against the pandemic with mutual cooperation and support of each other and will embark on a path of economic recovery. 

“The smart lockdown option in Pakistan has brought good results as the Covid-19 cases have started coming down. Similarly, China has significantly controlled the pandemic,” said Chinese scholar Prof. Cheng Xizhong in his article published by Gwadar Pro on Friday.

He quoted the relevant departments of the federal government as having said that if the pandemic cannot be controlled before the end of September, it will be difficult to achieve the revenue target. 

Cheng Xizhong who is visiting professor at Southwest University of Political Science and Law, senior fellow of the Charhar Institute was of the opinion that there is no option for the government of Pakistan but to control the coronavirus completely in order to achieve the revenue targets as well as economic recovery.

Pakistan is densely populated, with a high proportion of poor people and a large number of daily-income labourers. So, it is difficult to impose a complete lockdown.

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has already launched the strategy of “smart lockdown”, and the relevant government departments have formulated a series of standard operation procedures for pandemic prevention. 

Judged from the current situation, this strategy has achieved initial good results. The data shows that the growth curve of confirmed cases tends to gradually level off, with more than 81 per cent of confirmed cases recovered.

Prime Minister Imran Khan has already called upon the people to celebrate the Eid with simplicity and abide by the standard operating procedures for pandemic prevention. If COVID-19 can be controlled well during the festival, it will help Pakistan rebuild economic growth in an orderly manner, so the economic development will become normal.