by Misbah Saba Malik
ISLAMABAD, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- China has set a practical example of protecting human rights by safeguarding its people's lives during the COVID-19 pandemic, Pakistani analyst Musarrat Amin said.
"The Chinese leadership demonstrated acumen by imposing stringent lockdowns immediately after the outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan to protect its people from contracting the disease, without taking the economic losses caused by the massive lockdowns into consideration," Amin, who works as an assistant professor in Fatima Jinnah Women University told Xinhua.
Lauding China for the challenging decision to isolate the mega city of Wuhan and later the entire Hubei Province to control the disease, she said that the Chinese leadership believed that safeguarding people's lives meant winning against COVID-19 and this is the reason why the loss of lives in China was far less than other nations with much smaller populations.
"China not only controlled the disease within a limited time, but also acted as a model for the rest of world to follow on how to protect people's lives, the top human right," Amin said.
"The only logical strategy to control the disease was imposing a lockdown so that the affected people could not travel to other areas causing further spread of the virus. Isolating Wuhan proved helpful in identifying the number of cases," she said.
"The Chinese government not only isolated Wuhan but also kick-started construction of COVID-19 hospitals, reflecting its keenness to resolve the crisis. Some developed nations also tried to follow China by imposing lockdowns, but they were not able to construct separate hospitals for the infected patients," Amin said.
"Those who are concerned about human rights sometimes violate human rights in the name of security and safety. In the United States, casualties have proved that the state response to COVID-19 was not as the people of the country hoped and expected," she said.
Life has returned to normal in China after the control of disease. Schools have reopened and social and economic activities have been restored because China took the right step to save its people at the right time, she added. Enditem
