Comment by Riaz Haq on March 1, 2021 at 4:29pm

Safe reopening of #mosques: #Pakistan's success in controlling #COVIDー19 has been underreported. Pak initially restricted congregational prayers to 3 to 5 mosque employees, incl the imam, muezzin and maintenance staff, and closed it to general public. https://www.dailysabah.com/opinion/op-ed/safe-reopening-of-mosques-...

During the initial enforcement of these measures, the government consulted with these senior Islamic scholars regarding the closure of the mosques to ensure a successful implementation of social distancing during the lockdown.

They came to an agreement to restrict the congregational prayers to three to five mosque employees, including the imam, muezzin and maintenance staff, and thus agreed to close the mosques to the general public while keeping them internally functional.

This agreement was a remarkable display of flexibility and maturity on the part of these scholars, showing that they were cognizant of the gravity of the situation while at the same time ensuring that the functioning of this vital institution was not completely suspended.

Key to distancing
From a medical/epidemiological perspective, social distancing measures can only work when everyone observes them.

Therefore, the effectiveness of social distancing is not based on an incremental, graduated model but on an almost binary all-or-nothing model. If everyone observes the measures, only then are they effective; otherwise, it is as if no one is observing them. The drastic spikes in cases in certain Western countries bear testimony to this.

With the passage of time, two things became apparent: On the one hand, the incidence of new cases and the mortality rate in Pakistan were much lower than figures being reported in the rest of the world, especially those in neighboring India.

On the other hand, the cumulative economic burden of the lockdown on the country as a whole and more specifically on the poorest sections of society and daily wage workers seemed to be increasingly unsustainable.

As a result, the government announced new lockdown directives and regulations in April due to Pakistan's specific situation. Under these directives, large sectors of society, industry and services were reopened.

This was based on the rationale that Pakistan (with its widespread poverty and daily wage workers who cannot withstand a prolonged complete lockdown without starving) could not afford to lock down completely like for example a Western country with a solid welfare state, subsidies, grants and benefits could and that the number of deaths due to starvation and disease in such a lockdown would likely be as much or far more than the projected deaths due to COVID-19.

Coupled with the governments' gross inability to sufficiently provide for the immobilized and jobless poor workers in a lockdown and compensate them for what they would face or even feed them at the basic level during this time, the Pakistani government seemed to have been led to come to a conclusion: They relaxed the lockdown and opened up all of these sectors.

This would have been in addition to what they saw as the long-term collapse of the economy if a complete lockdown were to be prolonged, which, in a country like Pakistan, would likely cause hundreds of thousands of additional deaths in the medium term.

Now, one may debate the rationale behind these governmental directives and agree or disagree with them – as people indeed have – and with lengthy arguments on both sides, but it needs to be borne in mind that Pakistan is far from having the ideal state of affairs that wealthier nations find themselves in.

Comment by Riaz Haq on February 1, 2022 at 2:12pm

Abdul Alim of #Pakistan, a #COVID survivor and #vaccine advocate, dies of natural causes at age 104. He made headlines last year when he got vaccinated, encouraging others — especially those in his region of Upper Chitral — to do the same. https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2022/02/01/1077055777/abd...

Abdul Alim, one of Pakistan's oldest COVID survivors, died of natural causes on Jan. 27 at age 104.

Alim made headlines last year when he got vaccinated, encouraging others — especially those in his region of Upper Chitral in northern Pakistan — to do the same. Although vaccine hesitancy is a major issue in his country, Alim was an outspoken proponent of the vaccine.

"If a 100-above-year-old man like me can feel perfectly fine, everyone should have the courage to take it," he told NPR in May 2021. "There is no reason one should not take the vaccine."

A survivor and an advocate
In July 2020, Alim became one of the oldest survivors of coronavirus in the world.

At the time, the news of a potential COVID vaccine filled him with hope. He was afraid of getting sick again, and he wanted to get back into the world. "I wanted to benefit from it as soon as possible," he said. "I was tired of living life in isolation. I wanted to meet people, talk to them."


Alim said he was inspired to get the Sinopharm vaccine in April 2021 after he heard about it from his religious leader. "I am not very educated, so I do not understand much about it, but he told us that he had been vaccinated against COVID-19 and recommended everyone to do the same as soon as the vaccines are offered."

It was a big deal at that time for him to get a COVID shot. A survey of 1,000 people in Pakistan in January 2021 found that 50% didn't want to get the COVID-19 vaccine, fearing potential side effects.

After he got vaccinated, Alim said he was excited to fill up his social calendar and celebrate the Muslim holiday Eid ul-Fitr with his community. "I feel I am unchained now," he said. "I encourage everyone to take the vaccine."

'Pray for his soul from afar'
Alim was due for his booster shot in January but had not been feeling well, says his son Sohail Ahmad. "We waited for him to feel better. We were not sure whether his body was strong enough to sustain even mild side effects."

Alim was sick for five or six days, then passed away. Ahmad says his father discouraged people – especially those from outside his village Booni in Chitral – from visiting. COVID cases in their area were again on the rise.

In most Muslim cultures, it's common practice for friends, family and neighbors to visit loved ones who are sick and dying. In a close-knit community like Chitral, people bring food to the person's house or help with house chores. After a death, visitors console the grieving family to offer their compassion and pray alongside them.

"Although my father did not like to be in isolation, he advised us to urge people not to come visit him," says Ahmad. "He even said that he will be happier if people can pray for his soul from afar instead of coming from faraway villages. My father was concerned for people's health and even in death he wanted to keep people and our family safe."

He 'enjoyed his life to the fullest'
To make sure that people abided by his father's last wishes, Ahmad wrote a message on his Facebook page, telling friends and family to express their sympathies via telephone or social media. "Calls are enough to express your condolences and it will make my father's soul happy, too," he says he told them.

Ahmad says he received more than 500 calls and messages on his phone and Facebook page.

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