COVID-19 pandemic: Direct effects on the medical education in Pakistan

•To date, the medical education literature has focused on strategies for high-income countries to optimize online education.•Low- and middle-income countries' students face additional challenges in providing virtual education.•The main challenges LMIC students face are frequent internet and electricity outages and limited technology skills.•The COVID-19 pandemic placed novel emotional and financial pressures on medical students.•Here, we presented strategies for best practices in remote medical education, such as open-access medical education content.