May take more than a year to control coronavirus pandemic in Pakistan: survey

Pakistan Islamic Medical Association and Gallup Pakistan published the results of a new survey on Friday according to which the respondents felt it may take more than a year to control the coronavirus in the country.  

The 400 respondents of the survey — conducted by the Pakistan Islamic Medical Association and Gallup Pakistan — were doctors and those associated with the health profession. 

In response to the question as to when the world will be able to control the pandemic, 55% responded by saying that it would take more than a year while 41% were of the view that the COVID-19 situation will be brought under control in a few months. Only 4% thought it would take a few weeks for the situation to be controlled throughout the world. 

Sixty-six percent of the respondents urged the government to impose a lockdown till the situation did not improve. Four percent were of the view that the lockdown should be imposed till Eid-ul-Azha while 8% thought it should be lifted immediately. 

The survey's results stated that 60% of the respondents, who were doctors, were not happy with the country's response to the pandemic while 39% were satisfied. 

Among those who expressed dissatisfaction with the response to the COVID-19 challenge, 65% are doctors were from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. Among the same provinces, 34% doctors were satisfied with the government's response. In Sindh, 63% doctors said they were not happy with the government's response while 34% were not. 

In Punjab, 49% of the respondents said they were not happy with the way the crisis had been managed while 50% were satisfied. 

Yesterday, confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country jumped to 259,999 after 2,085 new infections were reported during the last 24 hours.

According to the national dashboard, there are 110,068 cases in Sindh, 89,023 in Punjab, 31,486 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 11,385 in Balochistan, 14,454 in Islamabad, 1,775 Gilgit-Baltistan and 1,808 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

The country also recorded 49 fatalities in the last 24 hours taking the nationwide death toll to 5,475.

The number of recoveries from coronavirus currently stands at 183,737.