ISLAMABAD: The coronavirus protocols for mosques has been revised and now only fully vaccinated people will be allowed into the places of worship, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) announced Saturday.
The NCOC revised mosque protocols a day after Pakistan recorded its highest daily infections count at 7,678 since the pandemic started in 2020.
The body leading Pakistan's COVID-19 response also announced on Friday that all schools with a high COVID-19 positivity ratio would remain closed for one week across the country.
Meanwhile, apart from allowing only vaccinated individuals, the NCOC has also announced the following restrictions for mosques:
- Removal of carpet, etc.;
- Maintaining six feet social distancing;
- Elderly and co-morbid to preferably offer prayers at home;
- Frequent hand sanitisation;
- Minimal attendance for the prayers;
- Preferably perform ablution at home;
- Opening of doors/windows for ventilation;
- Preferably organising prayers in open;
- Short sermon for Jumma prayer.
More than 1,000 patients infected with coronavirus are on critical care across Pakistan, according to official figures, as the COVID situation worsens due to the Omicron variant.
The patients on critical care have reached 1,055, up from 961 a day earlier, after the condition of 94 worsened in the last 24 hours, the NCOC's data showed.
The positivity ratio stood at 11.10%, down from 12.93% a day earlier, as 6,540 infections were reported across the country after 58,902 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, the NCOC data showed.
Following the new infections, the overall cases have reached 1.36 million, while 12 more deaths have taken the death toll to 29,077, according to NCOC's data.