[Current Affairs] August 26,2020 Top Pakistan Current Affairs for Entry Test Preparation

• Pakistan reported 482 new cases and 12 deaths in the past 24 hours. Pakistan also conducted 24,231 tests in the span of 24 hours (P.S. this data was last updated on August 26 at 9:31am).

• While reporting on COVID-19 in Pakistan, a recent Al Jazeera article claims “the South Asian nation of 200 million seems to have won the fight against COVID-19…” With a large population, weak health infrastructure, and dense urban neighborhoods, Pakistan was expected to experience the worst of the pandemic. However, active cases in Pakistan are steadily declining, with the number of daily deaths down to single digits.

• According to doctors and epidemiologists, several factors contributed to the country’s less than expected outbreak, such as phased lockdowns and demographics. For example, an estimated 64% of Pakistan’s population is under the age of 30. Older patients are reportedly more vulnerable to serious complications from COVID-19.

• According to the head of infectious diseases at Karachi’s Aga Khan University Hospital, Dr. Faisal Mahmood, the virus moves within “networks” and doesn’t go through an entire population equally. Pakistan’s social distancing restrictions and targeted lockdowns in virus hotpots reportedly isolated saturated infection networks.

• There are still fears of a second wave. Large religious gatherings are coming up to mark the first 10 days of Muharram. Schools and wedding halls are also reopening next month. As a result these “saturated social networks” will have a chance to interact with each other. Due to this mashing together of networks, the virus could find new avenues to spread.

• Pakistan already went through a phase where hospitals began to reach capacity, ventilators became scarce, and there was a shortage of critical care beds. Doctors don’t want people to stop following hygiene and social distancing protocols.

2. Heavy rains kill 90 across Pakistan

Three days of torrential monsoon rains have killed at least 90 people and damaged around 1,000 homes across Pakistan. At least 31 deaths were reported in Sindh, while 23 people died in KP, 15 in Balochistan, and eight in Punjab. Nearly 13 more people died in northern Pakistan, including three in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir. Troops, rescuers, and volunteers from the right-wing Islamist group, Tehreek-e-Labbaik, evacuated people from flooded residential neighborhoods in Karachi. Every year, cities in Pakistan struggle to deal with heavy downpours that come with the annual monsoon season. Authorities are continuously criticized about poor planning.

MARKET RECAP

The benchmark KSE-100 index closed at 40,292.82 after rising 490.22 points as of August 25, 2020.