Reports say that mosques have not been shut, despite the spike in the number of Covid-19 cases in the country

Pakistani government employees gather outside a bank to receive their salaries, ignoring social distancing recommendations to help avoid the spread of coronavirus, in Peshawar on April 1/Photo: AP/HT

Pakistan on Wednesday reported the biggest jump in Covid-19 cases for the third consecutive day as the number of people infected with the deadly disease reached 2,238.

The country has also witnessed 31 deaths from the disease.

Reports of the lack of adequate screening procedures and squalid living conditions at the quarantine camps at the Taftan border crossing with Iran have raised concerns about the surge in the number of infections.

The increase in the number of cases showed that there was little impact of the measures, including partial lockdown, taken so far to reduce the spread of the disease.

People have so far refused to listen to the authorities. Officials in Pakistan are scrambling to contain the disease by appealing to the public to remain inside homes and go out only in cases of emergencies. But there was little impact on the masses and in several cities, people were seen roaming out while security officials were trying to convince them to go back to their places.

Reports say that mosques have not been shut, despite the spike in the number of Covid-19 cases in the country. An event was organised in Pakistan last month where 2,50,000 people had gathered, showing the casual approach adopted by the authorities in the country in controlling the spread of the Sars-CoV-2 virus.

While Saudi Arabia and Iran have announced closure of mosques, Pakistan is yet to take such a decision. Friday prayers have been going on in the mosques in Punjab province which has a population of 110 million. Except the provincial governments in Sidh and Balochistan, no other regional government has taken a decision to close the places of worship.

This dilly-dallying by the central government in Pakistan has led Opposition parties to launch an attack on the Imran Khan dispensation.

"This government has yet to decide if it wants to properly shut down the country or not. We demand that lockdown should be imposed without any further delay," Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader and former premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said.

Khan, on his part, has said that "coronavirus will be confronted by the force of faith". Pakistani media cited Jamaat-i-Islami's general-secretary Liaqat Baloch as saying that the Prime Minister is "confused" over whether or not to impose a lockdown in the country.