Zee Waqar Mujtaba
The public has thrown caution to the wind and is busy socializing as if they are somehow immune to the Coronavirus. After the lockdown, the public seems to be in no mood to comply with SOPs. After few days of the reopening of markets, schools, and colleges, people started cramming into shops-many of them without covering their face-and blatantly flouting the SOPs.
It is proved how bad people’s attitudes are. Things are starting to look like how it was during the first few days of the Standard Operation Procedures (SOPs) when people still went out to socialize as if there was no virus around. Many people have taken mask-wearing lightly.
Pakistani public is not afraid of coronavirus, as you cannot find any country in this world in which a public transport bus-whose capacity of passengers is fifty-but carrying hundred or more passengers with very few people wearing masks.
People are mingling, markets remain open till midnight, gaming zones like snooker clubs are always crowded, it seems like coronavirus never came into the world.
Coronavirus has killed millions of innocent people all over the world, but in Pakistan, it is still considered a joke. if you tell them to follow the SOPs, they will answer, coronavirus is a myth created by international media to destroy the economy of developing countries. I also have heard from many educated people that coronavirus does not harm Muslims, Allah has sent this virus to destroy the disbelievers, so we have nothing to worry about.
On social media, we have seen videos of people challenging and rebuking mall security guards for making them wear face masks before entering the premises. And without any authority penalizing them, I don’t think a majority of the public will adhere to the SOPs after watching these contents on social media.
In small cities, there is no check and balance, rather the public is following SOPs or not. In my hometown, Jhang, people move freely without wearing masks while traveling on public transport. The followers of SOPs when question the transporters like drivers, conductors, and also the passengers, who violate the rules about the non-use of masks, they instead of agreeing with the danger of the disease, to defend themselves give non-satisfactory excuses saying there is no corona at all in Jhang or any other part of the country rather people are being fooled in the name of this virus.
So, here the question arises, why the public is so unaware of the danger and why the public is so ignorant toward SOPs?
The answer lies in government messaging, the authorities have failed to convince the public about the danger, like the governor of Sindh said that the coronavirus is not much worse than the seasonal flu. There are many other irresponsible acts by the government.
Since the government has made the decision to reopen the country and is depending so hardly on individual responsibility, the government must fulfill its duty to educate and protect the public.
We need to go back to stricter enforcement, with authorities making rounds to ensure everybody complies with SOPs. We can see public awareness of the virus is very low and almost negligible.
