Reasons behind declining of cases during the COVID-19 wavelets in Pakistan: public healthcare system or government smart lockdown policy?

Abstract

The latest statistics show that COVID-19 is still very active, and cases are on the rise across various countries and regions. On the other hand, statistics from Pakistan show a declining trend, especially during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. To understand this declining trend and answering our established ques-tion, “What are the reasons behind the decline of the COVID-19 cases in Pakistan – public health-care facilities or government smart lockdown pol-icy?” narrative literature-based evidence collected from government official websites, reports and also Google Scholar. Our findings suggest that the government’s innovative smart lockdown strategy and its execution at the right time with the consensus of all stakeholders accompanied with the observing of COVID-19 standard operation pro-cedures resulted in controlling the pandemic. Effective smart lockdown policy allows the government to identify shortcomings of and improve the capabilities of healthcare for the continuation of balanced socio-economic activities to avoid future spread-out of the pandemic in the time of crisis under national and World Health Organization guidelines.