Pakistan, June 29 -- Countries world over, were slow to acknowledge COVID-19 as a global pandemic. That is why, in beginning, Central Asian states too appeared to be zero-virus islands without confirmed corona infected cases. Kazakhstan disclosed its early confirmed cases on March 13, Uzbekistan on March 15, Kyrgyzstan on 18 and Tajikistan on April 30. Turkmenistan has not officially reported COVID-19 cases in the country, so far.

Obviously, the world will never be the same, once the pandemic ends. 'Old normal' is not likely to be restored. Social norms, human communications and lifestyles are transforming. 'New normal' would feature more digitization and less physical interaction in everyday routine of life including education, medicare...