Syed Ammad ALI*, Aamir Hussain SIDDIQUI** and Sohail JAVED***
Abstract
This study aims to find the determinants of a successful lockdown policy by the government
to save the nation from the pandemic COVID-19. The study is an attempt to develop a Lockdown
Readiness Index and measures the capacity of the Pakistani nation to bear the lockdown
situation. This Readiness Index finds that countrywide, only 11 per cent of households are
fully ready to live under a complete lockdown; however, with the exclusion of telephone and
internet facilities, the readiness of tolerance for the lockdown rises to 21 per cent. While taking
into account the likelihood of a partial shutdown and including any four of the six important
facilities, the percentage increases to 26 per cent. The study further develops an
econometric model by taking various social and economic variables to determine the capacity
to bear lockdown conditions. The estimation results suggest that a partial lockdown is relatively
more feasible for Pakistan. The study discovered that households in urban areas, those
headed by unemployed people, and households headed by women are more likely to withstand
the lockdown.
Keywords: Pandemic, COVID-19, Lockdown, Generalized Ordered Logit
Model, Pakistan, Lockdown Readiness Index.
