Institute for Global Health & Development, The Aga Khan University, South-Central Asia, East Africa & United Kingdom, Karachi, Pakistan.
Centre for Global Child Health, the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada.
East Mediterr Health J. 2021 Aug 26;27(8):798-805. doi: 10.26719/emhj.21.016.
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has affected the world in an unprecedented manner and South Asian countries were among the first to experience imported cases. Pakistan's response to COVID-19 has been under scrutiny for its granularity, reach and impact.
to evaluate objectively the chronology and depth of the response to COVID-19 in Pakistan.
We evaluated available national and subnational epidemiological and burden information on COVID-19 cases and deaths in Pakistan, including projection models available to the Government at an early stage of the pandemic.
Pakistan, with a population of 215 million and considerable geographic diversity, experienced case introduction from pilgrims returning from the Islamic Republic of Iran, followed by widespread community transmission. The National Command and Operations Centre, established through civilian and military partnership, was critical in fast tracking logistics, information gathering, real-time reporting and smart lockdowns, coupled with a massive cash support programme targeting the poorest sections of society. Cases peaked in June 2020 but the health system was able to cope with the excess workload. Since then, although testing rates remain low (> 300 000 cases confirmed to date), case fatality rates have stabilized, and with 6300 deaths, Pakistan seems to have flattened the COVID-19 curve.
Despite notable successes in controlling the pandemic, several weaknesses remain and there are risks of rebound as the economy and educational systems reopen. There is continued need for strong technical and programmatic oversight, linked to civic society engagement and working with religious scholars to ensure nonpharmacological intervention compliance.
2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）以空前的方式影响了世界，南亚国家是首批出现输入病例的国家之一。巴基斯坦对 COVID-19 的应对措施因其粒度、范围和影响而受到审查。
客观评估巴基斯坦对 COVID-19 的应对措施的时间顺序和深度。
我们评估了巴基斯坦 COVID-19 病例和死亡的可用国家和次国家流行病学和负担信息，包括大流行早期政府可获得的预测模型。
拥有 2.15 亿人口和相当大的地理多样性的巴基斯坦，从伊朗伊斯兰共和国返回的朝圣者中出现了病例输入，随后出现了广泛的社区传播。通过民用和军事伙伴关系建立的国家指挥和行动中心在快速跟踪后勤、信息收集、实时报告和智能封锁方面发挥了关键作用，同时针对社会最贫困阶层实施了大规模现金支持计划。病例在 2020 年 6 月达到峰值，但卫生系统能够应对额外的工作量。此后，尽管检测率仍然很低（迄今为止已确诊超过 30 万例），病死率已趋于稳定，且已有 6300 人死亡，巴基斯坦似乎已使 COVID-19 曲线变平。
尽管在控制疫情方面取得了显著成功，但仍存在一些弱点，随着经济和教育系统重新开放，存在反弹的风险。仍然需要强有力的技术和方案监督，与公民社会的参与以及与宗教学者合作，以确保非药物干预措施的遵守。
