COVID-19 Second Phase Lockdown Option and Public Opinion: A case study in Pakistan
##plugins.themes.academic_pro.article.main##
Abstract
Novel corona virus (nCoV-19) is associated with lower respiratory tract infection, with mild to severe symptoms and fatalities, especially in patients with other comorbid conditions like metabolic, cardiovascular or respiratory disorders. Pakistan has been recording exponentially growing corona virus cases ever since it lifted the lockdown in early May. National and International health and research institutes have recommended a second phase lockdown to curb the country’s current epidemic situation (Peshimam, 2020). However, government remains uncertain in perspective of poor, daily wagers and declining economic growth. As the general public is central to success of any health and preventive strategy, public outlook is considered as a key factor in feasibility studies for a national plan. The present study is designed to explore the general opinion of Pakistani population about lockdown interventions, associated problems and their disposition on the second phase lockdown. This questionnaire based survey study suggested that even though the first lockdown was not followed sufficiently, two-third respondents opted for a complete compliance with future lockdown. The belief in religious/home safety methods and denial of corona virus existence are the major causes for incompliance with lockdown instructions. However, the awareness among general public is rising which may help to halt the spread of infection in the future.
Keywords: COVID-19, situational awareness, precautionary measures
##plugins.themes.academic_pro.article.details##
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
References
-
1. Atika Qazi et al. (2020). Analyzing Situational Awareness Through Public Opinion to Predict Adoption of Social Distancing Amid Pandemic COVID-19. J Med Virol., 92(7), 849-855.
2. C. Wu et al. (2020). Risk factors associated with acute respiratory distress syndrome and death in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 pneumonia in Wuhan, China. JAMA internal medicine.
3. Caroline Bradbury-Jones, L. I. (2020, July). The pandemic paradox: The consequences of COVID-19 on domestic violence. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 29(13-14), 2047-2049.
4. Coronavirus Death Toll. (2020, June 15). Retrieved from Worldometer: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/coronavirus-death-toll/ (15 June)
5. (2020). Coronavirus disease (COVID-2019) situation reports. World Health Organization.
6. (2020). Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): situation report. World Health Organization (WHO).
7. Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19). (2020, June 15). Retrieved from Our World in Data: https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus#coronavirus-country-profiles
8. Dawn News. (2020, June 13). PM Imran rules out lockdown once again despite Punjab govt recommendations. Retrieved from DAWN: https://www.dawn.com/news/1563267
9. Hassan S. et al. (2020, June 05). A modified SEIR meta-population transmission based Modeling and Forecasting of the COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan. medRxiv: DOI: 10.1101/2020.06.03.20121517.
10. J. Zheng. (2020). SARS-CoV-2: an emerging coronavirus that causes a global threat. International journal of biological sciences, 16(10), 1678.
11. Muhammad Kashan Javed et al. (2020). Corona Virus Awareness in Pakistan: A Case Study. International Journal Of Medical Science in Clinical Research and Review, 3(03).
12. Peshimam, U. F. (2020, 06 10). WHO recommends Pakistan reimpose intermittent lockdowns as COVID-19 cases rise sharply. (M. Choy, Ed.) Retrieved from REUTERS: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-pakistan-who/who-recommends- pakistan-reimpose-intermittent-lockdowns-as-covid-19-cases-rise-sharply-idUSKBN23G2ZJ
13. Shahul H Ebrahim et al. (2020, March 17). Covid-19 and Community Mitigation Strategies in a Pandemic. British Medical Journal.
14. Stephen A. Lauer et al. (2020, March 10). The Incubation Period of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID- 19) From Publicly Reported Confirmed Cases: Estimation and Application. Annals of Internal Medicine, 172(9), 577-582.
15. Sullivan, H. (2020, June 10). Global report: WHO urges Pakistan to return to lockdown as hospitals struggle. Retrieved from The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/10/global-report-who-urges-pakistan-to-return- to-lockdown-as-hospitals-struggle
16. Team, C. C.-1. (2020, March 16). Severe Outcomes Among Patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) . CDC. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).
17. WHO Coronavirus. (2020, June 09). Retrieved from https://www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus
18. Y. Guo et al. (2020). The origin, transmission and clinical therapies on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak–an update on the status. Military Medical Research , 7(1), 1-10.