With COVID-19 cases on the rise in the country, a large number of members of the transgender community organised a rally on Friday from the Karachi Press Club to the Zainab Market, appealing to the public to maintain social distancing and stay at their homes.
The Gender Interactive Alliance, a transgender rights group, organised the rally. Participants of the rally were holding placards urging the people to follow social distancing and take the coronavirus pandemic seriously.
They also chanted slogans asking the people to avoid going to public places where the chances of the spread the virus were greater.
Transgender activists also distributed masks free of cost among shopkeepers and shoppers at the Zainab Market.
GIA president Bindiya Rana said that the main purpose of the rally was to make the people aware of the importance of maintaining social distance to limit the coronavirus spread.
“Our rally was part of the efforts of doctors and nurses who are urging the people to stay at home and maintain social distancing,” Rana told The News.
“We know that there is no treatment for the coronavirus and therefore it is important to maintain social distancing,” she said. She also said that it would also ease the burden on those working at hospitals.
Rana said that GIA members visited the Zainab Market and appealed to the shopkeepers and people to adopt precautionary measures and asked them not to bring children and elderly people. “We told them that the coronavirus is not a joke and do not take it lightly.”
She said that in the markets, no one has been obeying the governments’ SOPs. “It is the government’s responsibility to implement it,” she demanded.
The GIA members also praised the people who are serving on the frontline bravely facing the coronavirus threat.
“We appreciate the efforts of healthcare workers, including doctors, nurses and paramedics, law enforcement personnel, media persons and other government officials who are fighting on the front to contain the virus,” she said.