Economist ranking: PM Imran Khan all praise for NCOC, SBP and Ehsaas team
July 07, 2021
- PM Imran Khan hails the country's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Pakistan has ranked third in The Economist's COVID-19 normalcy index.
- Neighbouring India, with a score of 46.5, ranked 48 out of 50 countries.
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan Wednesday commended the performance of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and the Ehsaas team for their collective response during the COVID-19 pandemic that was acknowledged by The Economist in its recent report.
The prime minister, took to Twitter, to appreciate the government departments and thank the Almighty for His blessings.
“Congratulations to NCOC members, Ehsaas team & State Bank of Pakistan for effective response to Covid 19 pandemic; and above all thanks to the mercy of Almighty Allah,” he tweeted.
The UK magazine, in its Global Normalcy Index, had ranked Pakistan at number three out of 50 countries who performed well in controlling the COVID-19 spread.
Pakistan's neighbours, India and China, were ranked 48 and 19 with scores of 46.5 and 72.9 respectively. The US is on number 20.
The Economist’s “normalcy index” aims to determine which countries are returning to their pre-pandemic levels, by grading each country using eight indicators: Time not at home, retail, office use, public transport, road traffic, flights, cinema and sports attendance.
The global normalcy index plummeted in March 2020, stated the report, as many countries imposed restrictions on the movement of their citizens.
“Today it stands at 66 (out of 100) suggesting that the world has travelled roughly half of the way back to pre-pandemic life,” The Economist had stated.
The pre-pandemic level of activity was set at a score of 100, where Pakistan ranked third, with 84.4 out of 100. While Hong Kong topped the list with a ranking of 96.3 while New Zealand was ranked in second with 87.8.
“Hong Kong and New Zealand – two places that have implemented effective measures against the coronavirus and suffered relatively few deaths – are currently at the top of our tables,” the report had added.
In the category of “retail”, “office use”, “time not spent at home” and “public transport”, Pakistan ranked over 100. However, in the category of “flights” and “cinema” it scored low.
The NCOC has eased restrictions after the new cases come down and allowed businesses to operate at full capacity provided their employees are vaccinated.
