This is apropos a Business Recorder op-ed "Origins and challenges of coronavirus pandemic" carried by the newspaper yesterday. The writer, Rashed Rahman, has ably explained the China 'model' and the contrasting approaches to dealing with the challenge of coronavirus across the world. Nobody knew even one month ago that the number of infection cases in the US will rise phenomenally, surpassing China's. This fact alone reflects the Western countries' flawed approach to the fight against coronavirus. The UK, for example, was not paying any serious attention to the evolving situation until Prince Charles and prime minister Johnson tested positive for this deadly virus.
I fully agree writer's point that "China's approach to tackling the virus, starting from the epicentre Wuhan, was predicated on a suppression programme, going all out fast enough to drive the outbreak into extinction (or as near it as to pose no further major threat). Given that despite its embrace in the last four decades of capitalism, the Chinese regime is still communist, permitted a mobilisation of lockdown measures that other, less disciplined societies have found difficult if not impossible to emulate."
In my view, all governments that are struggling against this challenge must formulate their strategies by striking a balance between public safety and human rights. China has preferred public safety over human or individual rights.
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