Imran Khan has called upon his countrymen 'not to panic'
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has called upon his countrymen "not to panic" amid a spike in coronavirus cases in the country, warning that the spread of COVID-19 was inevitable and that Pakistan cannot currently afford the economic cost of shutting down its cities.
As of Wednesday, Pakistan has recorded at least 243 cases of the highly contagious coronavirus, most linked to travellers who have returned home from neighbouring Iran, according to government data. It is the highest number of confirmed cases in South Asia, compared with 147 in India, 44 in Sri Lanka, and 22 in Afghanistan.
Citing an ongoing economic slowdown that has seen GDP growth projections drop to less than 3 percent, Khan said enforcing a shutdown of cities could create an unmanageable economic shock. "We thought that if we shut down our cities, then people are already suffering, if we save them from corona[virus] on the one side, on the other side they'll die of hunger," he said in a televised address to the nation late on Tuesday. "We did consider shutting down cities when we were at 20 cases ... but I want to tell you all that Pakistan does not have the conditions that are in the United States or Europe. Our country has poverty."
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