Coronavirus is going viral day by day. More than 33,000 causalities have occurred globally and the tally of recorded confirmed cases is about to reach one million mark which is currently at around 723,000 in 200 countries.
A global race is on to better understand the novel coronavirus. Scientists and virologists around the world have been racing against the clock to develop a vaccine or cure before the virus overwhelms health systems and cripples the global economy.
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Meanwhile, China seems to have bounced back from the overwhelming force of the coronavirus onslaught, which began in late December. The original epicenter of the virus, Hubei province’s Wuhan city, has seen a partial removal of lockdown last week and things are slowly returning to normal.
On the other hand, Pakistan is just beginning to feel the impact of the virus’s outbreak, which has claimed 21 lives so far and infected more than 1,500 people.
Chinese authorities have been helping Pakistan attempt to overcome the challenge presented by the pandemic by lending medical aid and doctors who are sharing their expertise. Recently Chinese flights carrying three installments of medical supplies and a team of doctors arrived in Pakistan.
As far as global affairs are concerned, tensions have been brewing for weeks between China and USA over who is to blame for the outbreak. USA has directly blamed China for spreading the virus and President Trump terms it as “Chinese Virus”. China has been a victim of conspiracy theories especially by Western Countries including USA and also by India, claiming that it was China which deliberately spread and manufactured the virus across the world. This propaganda has been proliferated at a time when China has successfully controlled the virus in its territories and returning back to normal life while the epicenter of the pandemic has drastically shifted to the US from Europe and China.
China has proved to be a time testing friend of Pakistan by assisting us with its experience of successfully fighting with Coronavirus. We must acknowledge the support of China in every possible manner. It is very disheartening to witness few media anchors who are endorsing this foreign narrative which could be counterproductive to us. Media has to play a positive role in this time of crisis and depict strong sense of responsibility. It should promote and support the decisions taken by the government to counter the threat of Coronavirus and avoid being a part of global conspiracy theories against China.
