The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was first reported in China (Wuhan) at the end of 2019. It has rapidly spread over 216 countries, including the USA, UK, Europe, Russia, and many Asian countries. It has affected more than 4.5 million people, and around 0.3 million deaths have been reported globally. Many preventive measures have been adopted worldwide to mitigate its spread. The government of Pakistan has also taken many preventive measures to combat the COVID-19 outbreak, such as rapid response by governance, continuous monitoring of the pandemic spread in the affected areas, and integration of resources from multiple sectors, including health, education, defense, and media. According to global statistics, the number of COVID-19 cases in the country remained remarkably lower than the expected number for the first 169 days, as compared to other countries. A total of 286,674 confirmed cases, including 16,475 active, 6,139 deaths, and 264,060 (92%) recoveries were reported. The study finds that strict adherence to national policies, effective governance, and unity at the national level resulted in better outcomes. Hence, the preventive measures, rapid responses, and strategies adopted for combating the challenges could be adopted as a learning tool for other countries having similar work environments and financial constraints. This paper can help and guide governance/public actions in response to the possible rebound of coronavirus this fall/winter.

This research was performed to explore the vital role of seed priming with a 0.01 µM concentration of brassinosteroids (EBL) to alleviate the adverse effects of Cr (100 µM) in two different rice cultivars. Seed priming with EBL significantly enhanced the germination attributes (germination percentage, germination energy, germination index, and vigor index, etc.), photosynthetic rate as well as plant growth (shoot and root length including the fresh and dry weight) under Cr toxicity as compared to the plants primed with water. Cr toxicity induced antioxidant enzyme activities (SOD, POD, CAT, and APX) and ROS level (MDA and H2O2 contents) in both rice cultivars; however, a larger increment was observed in YLY-689 (tolerant) than CY-927 (sensitive) cultivar. EBL application stimulatingly increased antioxidant enzyme activities to scavenge ROS production under Cr stress. The gene expression of SOD and POD in EBL-primed rice plants followed a similar increasing trend as observed in the case of enzymatic activities of SOD and POD compared to water-primed rice plants. Simultaneously, Cr uptake was observed to be significantly higher in the water-primed control compared to plants primed with EBL. Moreover, Cr uptake was significant in YLY-689 compared to CY-927. In ultra-structure studies, it was observed that EBL priming relieved the rice plants from sub-cellular damage. Conclusively, our research indicated that seed priming with EBL could be adopted as a promising strategy to enhance rice growth by copping the venomous effect of Cr.

During the outbreak of an epidemic, it becomes significantly essential to monitor the effects of containment measures and forecast the outbreak, including the epidemic peak. Many countries have either implemented strict lockdown to counter the spread of coronavirus disease or taken necessary preventive measures across the world to reduce the outbreak of this epidemic war. Several epidemic models have been presented across the world to examine the effects of public health-related strategies on mitigating the spread of current infectious disease, yet no reputable model has been presented for Pakistan as well as other South-Asian developing countries as per the authors’ knowledge. In this research, an actual coronavirus prediction in Pakistan is presented, which may guide the decision-makers as to how this pandemic has spread across the country and how it can be controlled. Furthermore, in the absence of targeted medicines, the analysis helps to develop a precise plan for the eradication of the outbreak by adopting the calculated steps at the right time. The mathematical phenomenological models have been adopted in this study to predict, project, and simulate the overall affected cases reflected due to the recent outbreak in Pakistan. These models predict the expected growth, and the estimated results are almost well matched with the real cases. Through the calibration of parameters and analyzing the current situation, forecast for the appearance of new cases in Pakistan is reported till the end of this year. The constant level of number of patients and time to reach specific levels are also reported through the simulations. The drastic conditions are also discussed which may occur if all the preventive restraints are removed. This research quantitatively describes the significant characteristics of the spread of corona cases. It acknowledges and provides an understanding of a short-term and long-term transmission of coronavirus outbreak in the country as three evolutionary phases. Therefore, this research provides a pathway to cope with the emerging threat of a severe outbreak in developing and nondeveloping countries.

Chromium (Cr) is a serious environmental contaminant that drastically limited the crop yields. Nitric oxide (NO) and spermine (Spm) portrayal significance in improving the plant tolerance against abiotic stresses. Therefore, we investigate the protective efficacy of seed priming with NO (100 μM) and/or Spm (0.01 mM) in minimising the Cr-induced toxic effects in rice (Oryza sativa L.) plants. Our outcomes revealed that Cr alone treatments (100 μM) notably reduced the seed germination rate, plant growth, photosynthetic apparatus, nutrients uptake and antioxidant defence system, but extra generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Interestingly, the combine applications of NO and Spm significantly reversed the Cr-induced toxic effects by reducing the Cr-accumulation, maintaining the nutrient balance, improving the germination indices, levels of photosynthetic pigments (chl a by 24.6%, chl b by 36.3%, chl (a + b) by 57.2% and carotenoids by 79.4%), PSII, photosynthesis gas exchange parameters and total soluble sugar (74.9%) by improving antioxidative enzyme activities. As a result, NO + Spm lowered the accumulation of oxidative markers (H2O2 by 93.9/70.4%, O2˙− by 86.3/69.9% and MDA by 97.2/73.7% in leaves/roots), electrolyte leakage (71.4% in leaves) and improved the plant growth traits. Based on these findings, it can be concluded that NO triggers Spm to minimise the Cr-accumulation and its adverse effects on rice plants. Additionally, combined treatments (NO + Spm) were more effective in minimising the Cr-induced toxic effects in comparison to NO and Spm alone treatments. Thus, co-exposure of NO and Spm may be utilised to boost rice tolerance under Cr stress conditions.