Lahore
Hundreds of thousands of worshippers gathered in eastern Pakistan this week amid the coronavirus pandemic, ignoring government warnings that such events could propagate the disease.
Organisers late Thursday (March 12) curtailed the annual Tablighi Ijtimah congregation, which had drawn people from across the country, but cited rainy weather as the cause.
The early closure came after about 250,000 people had already congregated in camps near Lahore since Wednesday for the five day festival.
“Most of the people have returned to their homes but still tens of thousands of people are here. They will return today,” one of the event’s organisers Ehsanullah, who goes by one name, told AFP on Friday. Pakistan has only recorded 21 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus and no deaths, but officials have tested fewer than 500 potential cases in the country of about 215 million, where healthcare is frequently inadequate.
