Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Digital Pakistan Tania Aidrus has stated that according to her opinion Pakistan cannot afford another lockdown and due to this the country has to look into the option of implementing smart lockdown.

While giving an interview to BBC, the special assistant said that in a situation like coronavirus, if you do not have a real-time data then your counter measures to limit the spread of the corona shall remain ineffective.

Tania Aidrus further added that now our primary emphasis is to collect data from all provinces at one place as previously all provinces were collecting data on their own by using different systems and protocols. Moreover now we are introducing telemedicine services where a normal citizen can use WhatsApp to talk with a relevant doctor.

Answering a question regarding any new technologies introduced by Digital Pakistan, Tania Aidrus stated,“ introducing new technology is not important for the sake of technology but at this time, it is important for us to realize the importance of effective data systems because real-time data can help in effective decision making. Therefore collecting right data and using it for making right decisions is our primary motive at this moment of time, she said.

Using the real-time data, it can be analyzed that where the smart lockdown should be implemented, how the spread of virus can be minimized in the ever changing scenario of coronavirus.

Regarding the kind of data being collected and the impact of data, Tania Aidrus stated CNIC records,  corona tests, age, gender, contact details are being collected and before this all such data was not being collected properly. There were no defined unified rules but as we have realized the importance of data, all such information from the provinces is being collected, analyzed and decisions are being taken based on the results of the data analysis.