Zubair Qureshi
The Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration on Friday allowed the faithful to offer Friday prayers in the main prayer hall that was sealed last week over violation of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
On Friday, the district administration issued SOPs and made sure that those offering prayers maintained 6-feet distance from each other and followed all the health guidelines.
According to the health guidelines, those not wearing masks will not be allowed inside the mosque and the mosque administration will be responsible for implementation of this guideline.
Moreover, the faithful over 50, children or those sneezing or coughing would be asked to avoid entering the mosques. They would also be encouraged to bring the prayer mate along with them.
While talking to Pakistan Observer, a senior official of the ICT said the mosque administration has also been directed to mark the points of worship where the faithful could stand maintaining the distance.
They have also been asked to avoid shaking hands with one another or touching their face or body.
The faithful were asked to wash their hands at least for 20 seconds and do the same upon returning home. “We are constantly in touch with the mosque administration and police in order to ensure the SOPs,” he further said.
Meanwhile, Islamabad on Friday reported 319 daily-count of new cases and five deaths that further took the total number of cases in the city to 34,014 and deaths 353.
The number of recoveries in the 24 hour period stood at 27,205 and according to the District Health Officer Dr Zaeem Zia, in the last 24 hours 419 patients were qualified to be recovered cases of Coronavirus.
Islamabad’s positivity rate for coronavirus has jumped to 4.8 percent while 6,629 tests were conducted during the last one day, he said.
Out of the 319 new cases of coronavirus, 186 are male and 133 female, he said. In Islamabad alone there are 6,039 active cases that are our primary concern, he said.
