Workers distribute food to people in need under the governmental ’Ehsaas’ programme during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus, in Karachi on May 2, 2020.

Javed Rana

Millions of people are estimated to have lost their jobs in Pakistan amid the coronavirus pandemic. Small and medium sized industries are fast shutting down. This means far more number of people have slipped below the poverty line in Pakistan after the security lockdown was imposed to prevent the spread of the disease in March this year.

More than seven weeks of security lockdown in Pakistan to prevent the surge of coronavirus has hit hard the ordinary people. The State owned Pakistan Institute of Development Economics in its official assessment has disclosed that between 20 million to 70 million people could fall below the poverty line, while 18 million people could also lose jobs due to the lockdown.

This man was a chef at a five star hotel in Islamabad. After the lockdown in March, he was laid off.

His story is just the tip of the iceberg. According to Gallup Pakistan Surveyor, over four in five people or 84 percent Pakistanis have reported to have lost a significant portion of their income while 7 in 10 or 68% have lost their jobs since the government imposed the lockdown.

Over 500 people died of the coronavirus in Pakistan while more than 22000 tested positive. Among them nearly 600 have recovered so far.

Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar said on Sunday the coronavirus has caused 58 percent more deaths in the United States, 207 percent more in Spain and 124 percent more in the United Kingdom as compared to Pakistan in the same period, but the country uses its own methods to deal with the issue.

Sustainable Development Policy Institute, an Islamabad based research institution has disclosed that around one million small and medium sized businesses outfits may perish if the lockdown persists.

Press TV, Islamabad