FACT CHECK: Murad Saeed terms covid

preventive measures and PM’s ‘smart

lockdown’ as example to other countries.
Facts state otherwise.
Muhammad Ali Syed – Updated May 19, 2020

Federal Minister Communications & Postal Services Murad Saeed addresses a

National Assembly session – PTV

In a video clip gone viral on social media and being reported by

several Pakistani and international news outlets, Federal
Communications and Postal Services Minister and member of
ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Murad Saeed stated that
Andrew Cuomo the governor of New York is going to follow in
the footsteps of Prime Minister Imran Khan by imposing a
smart lockdown based on COVID’s contact tracing and contact
tracking. In addition, Saeed also stated that Khan’s British
counterpart Boris Johnson has drawn inspiration from Khan’s
cluster lockdown by implementing it in the U.K.
Saeed praised premier Imran Khan and the government’s
timely response to the COVID calling it “a mark of success” in
terms of preventing the number of covid cases reaching 50,000
as predicted according to some models by 25th April.
Murad’s speech in National Assembly caught the attention and
scrutiny of netizens, social media users and mainstream
broadcast media when he remarked, “If you look at the smart
lockdown concept implemented by Prime Minister Imran Khan
even the governor of New York has quoted Pakistan’s contact
tracing and tracking concept and are following it now.”
Saeed claimed in the National Assembly’s session that the
world for the first time heard terms such as partial lockdown,
smart lockdown and cluster lockdown and while the opposition
always talked about lockdown they walk out of the session as
they were not able to provide a solution on how to implement
the lockdown.
While the opposition in both houses of parliament blames PM
Khan for mishandling the covid crises, Saeed responded to the
criticism by saying, “The world follows [us] but they
[opposition] don’t like it.”
Yet how true are the minister’s claims when he says that “the
world follows [us]……..”? . By giving the examples of governor
of New York as well as Prime Minister of U.K and defending the
Pakistani government’s decisions on COVID handling and
claiming that its model was being discussed and applied by
some of the world’s richest countries, Saeed’s over the top
claims has gone viral with even international news agencies like
Reuters reporting it too.
How true are Saeed’s claims? Facts state otherwise
The governor of New York Andrew Cuomo has never
deliberated on Pakistan’s smart lockdown model and in all his
briefings with officials and the media, has, never mentioned PM
Khan and his government’s “smart lockdown” policies as an
example to be followed.
In Pakistan the implementation of the “smart lockdown” has
failed as people throng to public places in 100s with daily
pictures and videos circulating on social media.
Most of the populations in Pakistan’s cities are skeptical of the
lockdown imposed by the government. The defiance of many
with regards to the directives and precautionary measures
being issued by the government could lead to a worsening of
the state of affairs which many fear.
If the smart lockdown initiated by Khan was really successful,
pictures and videos circulating on social media show how even
partial lockdowns are failing.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson who has recovered from
COVID denies having announced to follow in Khan’s footsteps
and implement Prime Minister Khan’s “smart lockdown”
strategy.
It is actually Cuomo who has implemented the smart lockdown
effective from May 15 2020 only permitting low-
risk recreational activities in the state of New York.
In Pakistan the smart lockdown has not been much effective as
even before it the stricter lockdown and the directives issued in
relation to it were being defied by mass sections of the
population.

Many news outlets both national and international have fact

checked Saeed’s claims, and the quickest respond to Saeed’s
claims were social media users especially those on Twitter
Saeed concluded his speech by lambasting opposition members
who, walked out of the session held in the National Assembly.
He accused them of not having the “courage” to listen to the
arguments put forward by government representatives, even
though his claims regarding “smart lockdown”, cluster
lockdown and rich countries following Pakistan’s example with
regards to COVID were without evidence and therefore
misleading.