ABSTRACT
The novelty and scale of this disease, along with its uncertainties and ambiguities, have made it critical for health authorities to plan appropriate strategies for effective preparedness. The government’s efforts to contain the virus have included: early case detection and tracing and tracking contacts; efforts to communicate the risks of the virus to the public; and mandating physical distancing, quarantine, and isolation—including from one’s family—for COVID people. While globally, (mis)information about COVID-19 is circulating rapidly around the sociocultural landscape, Pakistanis have their own, unique, and socioculturally rooted (mis)information and (mis)conceptions about COVID-19. Most interlocutors argued that they have not in actuality met any COVID-infected person; however, they have constantly been reading and watching about them on social and print media. People’s beliefs and perspectives are real, influence behavior, and help them to make sense of their lifeworlds.
